A graphic of 10 broken items to declutter including - old phone, cassette tape, glasses, broken cup, old medication, old newspapers, dead plant

Episode 75 – 10 things to declutter from your home immediately!

In this podcast, we talk about things you can do to make an impact on your clutter immediately. Where do you get started when you are tackling a home with clutter everywhere. Our advice is always start small - but how? Well, here are 10 things you can declutter immediately from your home! But even simple things like these can be tough.

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Transcript of this podcast episode

Intro  0:07  
Welcome to today's episode of The declutter hub podcast, your channel for super easy, no nonsense advice on how to declutter and organise your home. Please welcome your host, professional organisers, Ingrid Jansen, and Lesley Spellman.

Ingrid  0:30  
Hello, and welcome listeners to Episode 75 of the declutter hub podcast. I'm Ingrid. And I'm Lesley. Before we get started with the main part of the podcast, I'd like to respond to some questions people have been asking us about our membership area. Just to give you an idea of the kinds of things we've been doing. Lots of our members are working through our kitchen course at the moment and are seeing some great results. And we've also guided members through a paperwork challenge, and our members have decluttered and organised all that random stacks of paper. So if you're still struggling with your clutter in March, and all your news resolutions have not worked. Come and think of joining a members area and have a look on members to declutter. of.com If you have any questions, please let us know. Now we get asked a lot. Where do you start? I'm so overwhelmed. I don't know where to start. And we always say start small. So in today's podcast, Lesley and I are going to chat about things you can declutter immediately, Lesley.

Lesley  1:29  
Yeah, that's really nice idea, isn't it? Because we say start small. But now we're gonna start really small. And we're actually right in the middle of doing that in our for today's 40 items challenge in the decluttered. community. So basically, what that challenge is, if you've not seen it, is that you declutter one item per day from your house. So the same principle. So what we thought we'd do is talk about that on the podcast as well, just in case people haven't done the 40 days, 40 items challenge. So they can either join in, or it can give them a little bit of inspiration of some of the things that they can choose. Yes, I know.

Ingrid  2:00  
And we do love our 40 days, 40 items challenge, don't we, I mean, we go live in the Facebook group. I think like every day, as much as we can, showing what we're decluttering ourselves as well.

Lesley  2:12  
And the thing, that's the thing, so for me, I'd like to say that it was pre planned. But literally I wake up that morning and think right, what can I declutter today. So it just shows you that it can be spontaneous, obviously, as you probably imagine, Ingrid, and I don't have lots and lots of clutter in our houses. But there's always something that you can get rid of, because we bring things in. And this is the thing, if we buy things and bring things into our house, something in principle then needs to go to accommodate that. And so there's always this churning of stuff, something comes in, something goes out, something comes in, something goes out. And that's the only way that you can keep things under control. So what we thought we'd talk about today is just random things that are super, super easy to declutter from your house that are just no brainers no brainer, things that you can declutter from your house. But nevertheless, they still happen to hang around for a while.

Ingrid  3:03  
I think there's some sort of myth that you can just declutter once in your life and that you're done, but I'm like, we declutter all the time. Literally, we, I mean, we are the perfect examples of constantly trying to think okay, what's the next thing I haven't used to happen love that I don't need any more, have brought something else in that can replace this item. So that's why we love doing the for today's 40 item challenge as well, don't we,

Lesley  3:27  
I mean, any of the challenges that we do the so the for today's 40 is a nice easy one for us. Sometimes when we write the challenges, I know that I need to tackle that area gives me an opportunity to tackle it. One of the things that people say to us all the time is we like Ingrid and Lesley, because they've got loads of clutter in their house, too. That's a good thing or a bad thing. But it keeps it real, doesn't it and that's the case, you know, I buy things, I sell it all the time, my family, buy things bring things in, so something has to go. So that's what we're talking about nice, easy peasy things to do. So everyone's gonna get something out of this. You might not have all of these things in your house, but I can bet my bottom dollar you'll have a few of them. So number one on our list, and I think it's quite an interesting thing. I mean, we're going to put a disclaimer in here straight away. Even though we say these things are easy, we know that certain things are difficult for certain people. So for some of these things, they are no brainers to the majority of people, but some people have got emotional attachments to things. So some things might be difficult for some people and not for others. So the first one on our list is dead plants and flowers. So how many of you have got plants that are past past their best flowers that you've been bought? That should have been thrown away but are still sitting there in a vase with a kind of yellow kind of liquid underneath them and mouldy sides. It's just not a great look in your house. And it really brings the mood of the house down. So for me that plants and flowers need to be dealt with straightaway and discarded. They can go presumably I think yes, certainly the plants can go into your green bed. I'm not sure about the soil. I think you've got my I have to do to knock the soil off. I'm not sure. Maybe not do not can you put soil in your, in your green bin? Right? Okay, so dead plants and flowers all can go in your green bin. I don't know about you, Ingrid. But I'm absolutely terrible at keeping plants. And to be fair looking after flowers.

Ingrid  5:14  
I'm not too bad to be honest with you, but I don't have that many. So I have a couple that I tried to kind of keep alive. But and I do. I mean, maybe because I'm from Holland, I just love flowers. So I regularly buy myself flowers this time of year. The tulips are amazing. And I love I love the fresh flowers. But after about a week and a half, two weeks, I know that I kind of need to have a look in either, if half of them are still in relatively good condition, take out the ones that have gone, or gonna go, You know what 80 or 95% is gone. Now the only to go. So, but I do enjoy it. And just to say we have a brown bin here, Lesley for another green bin. Oh, I know, I know, we have a Brahmin. And we actually have to separate out our garden and plant waste from our food waste, we can't put that together. So we have separate bin for a food waste, and another one for garden way. So what I do is when I help clients, and in my own house as well, if I do have that flowers, I put them in my brown bean or when there's plants, I take the plastic casing off, and that can go into a plastic recycling. And then the flowers go in but I make sure I take like the tickets out and maybe a card and stuff like that. I tried to kind of really do that properly, because otherwise things get contaminated, obviously.

Lesley  6:33  
Yeah, this is what's really quite difficult actually. It's we talk about barriers all the time and actually recycling and knowing what you can put where and into which bone is really tricky. So even Ingrid and I, when we're writing courses and things like that there was something yesterday where Ingrid said to me, oh, and that can go into plastic recycling now appear, the only thing that can go into plastic recycling is plastic bottles, you can't put other kinds of types of plastic. So right even within the UK, every single town has probably got different different colour bins, different rules for recycling, different things can be recycled, because well managed by different organisations. So whenever we talk about recycling, please check what it's like in your local area and don't follow our advice, basically, because it could be completely wrong. And obviously other parts of the world we're not familiar. And so it's tricky, isn't it? It really is tricky to get it right. So it's no wonder that people really struggle with recycling and things get contaminated. But anyway, Number One On The List dead plants and flowers, do yourself a favour and get rid of those straightaway.

Ingrid  7:33  
Yeah, for sure. And immediately you feel better. And maybe your reward for doing some decluttering in your house can be to buy yourself a nice bunch of flowers. So you can enjoy some fresh flowers in your house because I think to yourself the house always enormously

Lesley  7:48  
now they're gonna die and then you gotta throw them away again. Yeah, but that's

Ingrid  7:51  
that's the cycle of flowers. You know, you can't that's that's what that's part of life. And what goes in must go out at some points. old newspapers, Lesley? Yes, that's the next thing. I think

Lesley  8:07  
I'm very rigid on my newspaper. So I'm not gonna lie I, I have one newspaper that comes in every week, which is the free newspaper, which I do read because it's local. It's got local news in it. That's why I'm interested in that. And I wouldn't read that news any other way, perhaps. And so I literally keep the newspaper, I keep it on my work surface. It's something that I read when I'm having my breakfast in the morning. And then what's it going to take 10 minutes to go through it. I'm not reading every single article fully, just to make sure there's nothing that I've missed, and it's straight in the recycling. But there are lots of people who have lots of newspapers hanging around, that they've not read yet not got around to read in that they want to keep that the keeping for somebody else in the family. And sometimes these newspapers can become really overwhelming. And we say this to experience because newspapers are something that we get rid of a lot of when we're decluttering with clients, don't we Ingrid?

Ingrid  8:57  
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You find them everywhere in the home, or next to a sofa where people read them. And there's like copies of six weeks ago, and you can't keep up. There's one coming every day or every week. And it's just something that it's fleeting, show you the best way is to recycle it.

Lesley  9:19  
Yeah, and newspapers and magazines are supposed to be something transients they ask, they're not like books, they're supposed to be something that you read, and that you devour, and then you get rid of it. And some of them are supposed to be things that hang around one little tip really, if you have a newspaper that's got something that you want to keep for a specific reason, right on it as soon as it comes in that you want to keep that so you definitely know that that's something to be kept and not something that's going to get discarded. Because that's the kind of thing that where people get into a bit of a panic and then they keep more because I'm not sure what's inside it. I need to just double check which one it was that had Joseph in it last week, for example. So if you know that one of your children or something is in a newspaper, just make sure you write that on the top so it doesn't it inadvertently go missing?

Ingrid  10:01  
Yeah, good point. Next one on our list is outdated medicines.

Lesley  10:08  
Yeah. And it should be easy, shouldn't it? Be easy?

Ingrid  10:14  
You said it's hard. It's hard.

Lesley  10:16  
I mean, we're trying to find things that are easier than with everything well at all, actually. But it's quite hard, isn't it? So no, for most people, outdated medicines is a no brainer. You can go through your medicines, if you've got them in some kind of order fairly reasonably. Most people have got medicines, broadly together with a few scattered around in bedside tables. But most people do have one kind of holding area for them. If you've got more complex medical needs, and you've got lots and lots of medication, and this is going to be a bigger job. But if you have just got sort of standard medical needs, whatever those might be with a standard amount of medicine, go through your medicine thing and discard the ones that are out of date. Obviously, remembering that if it's prescription medication, then it needs to go back to the pharmacy to be recycled.

Ingrid  11:02  
Yes, very, very important. And they every pharmacy here in the UK must accept your bag. If you bring in a bag with this combination. Don't bring the boxes in the leaflets and all that just bring the medication itself and the strips are in the bottles. And also make sure that you don't put any sharps in your bag, which are discarded medication that needs to be put separately in the shops back. But that is normally not a difficult one to do. And it kind of clears out and you can see exactly that as well, how much you currently have. And if there's anything missing from your current stack. And while you're at the pharmacy, you think I actually need to get some paracetamol I've nearly run out, then you can actually use that opportunity to immediately buy some new and then you're you're shorted again, Lesley next on our list than out

Lesley  11:47  
of date food. So food either in your fridge, your freezer or your cupboard or pantry that has gone out of date. So this might be dependent on how you're going to challenge yourself. So what we've said is things you can declutter, immediately, you are going to dictate what this challenge looks like for you. So it might be right, okay, I'm gonna do a quick thing, I'm gonna do 15 things, I'm going to get rid of one item out of each of these categories. Well, you might go a little bit further and say, well, actually, I've got five or six medicines that can go on. So it might be more, but you look at that. So actually out of date, food could be a bigger job. Because that means really going through everything in your food cupboard, which is quite a picture for some people. Or it could be actually I'm just going to look through my Tinder, I'm just going to look through my fridge, I'm just going to look through my freezer or something like that. So it doesn't have to be a full declutter of your kitchen, it just needs to be try and put your hands on a couple of things that look as if they're out of date. Now for most people, the easy way to do that is in your fridge quite often jars that have been with sauces and things like that, that's the one that tends to be out of date, because they've only got six weeks or whatever, two weeks, six weeks worth of life short lives on them. And quite often they just get left in there because we use half a jar and we keep the rest thinking that we're going to use it and we don't and then it needs to get discarded. So a good place to start is definitely at the jars and sauces and things like that in your fridge.

Ingrid  13:05  
Yes, for sure. And I would say maybe have a look at your fruit bowl or your vegetable drawer. Because sometimes you know some potatoes keep hanging about you think oh my gosh, how long were they in here? You're looking at your fruit bowl you think those apples look a bit trivial. Maybe I should have eaten them three weeks ago. So that's also kind of an easier way just to clear the decks a little bit you can then another time maybe look at really properly like dates on packets and things if you can see what you want to get rid of those so yes, out of date food is for sure and a category that we can tackle.

Lesley  13:41  
I feel like I want to say something that's just like completely going off topic. Well we're not going off topic but it's something that's pops into my head really so I don't know what it was like with you in Holland but when I was growing up in the sort of 70s We used to get my mum used to get these massive bags of potatoes like probably I don't know 430 What I'm trying to think what that will be but a huge like sack of potatoes they used to sit in the garage they used to have all the dirt on them remember potatoes weren't like they are now and the use of all this dirt and used to sit in the garage and they used to be in there for months and now you get a bag of potatoes it literally lasts two weeks if that and so what was it what happened then that's not happening now with potatoes that they could be kept for months and months. So if anybody knows the answer to that please do let me know because it's always bothered me. Did you have that as well and good are you just thinking that I'm completely delusional and deranged?

Ingrid  14:30  
I can't remember I do remember like my mum putting fruit on the fruit bowl I can't remember potatoes necessarily but maybe I'm just thinking and I'm really want to know the answer now as well so and listeners if you know this, but I'm thinking maybe it's the garage a lot cooler, and that we now keep potatoes in the house which is a lot warmer is that maybe the reason or maybe it is more pesticides probably that they use or maybe because they wash all the dirt Oh

Lesley  14:59  
It's probably a combination, it's probably the coolness, it's probably the fact that they're fairly protected by soil. And that, you know, you just have to wash all soil off your potatoes, you know? Do you remember that in good? Or did you maybe went on and you'll had pre washed potatoes as a child,

Ingrid  15:15  
we didn't tell you that

Lesley  15:20  
always bothered me. I'm like, I mean, maybe it didn't. But it felt like my mom had potatoes, there was only three of us in the house, because I'm an only child. So like, it's not as if there was a family of 10. So these potatoes must have been there, like nine months. But anyway, so if anybody knows about the potato situation, please do let us know. And I know that as a complete aside, but sometimes these things just pop into my head, as you know, Ingrid,

Ingrid  15:43  
signed off. Let's let's, I'm going to try and get us back on track here. So I'm going to move on odd socks that have been hanging around for ages. I mean, how many times do we find a bag, or in the bottom of a sock drawer, all these random socks, or in a wash basket, or in the laundry room or some random place, and I was it's a bag with socks. And because people think they're going to find the other one, but it's like, lids of Tupperware socks just disappear. We don't know where they go, then we don't notice either. So don't ask us where do our hot socks go? We don't know. But I think it's just one of these things. I think the socks have holes. I think other people maybe chuck them away, instead of putting them into the rags for the for the charity shop. And then there's only one random sock and then not only for what happened to the other shocks, so clear those out from your house, you're not going to find the other one. And if you do find the other one, the chances are one in 1000. You it's easier just to buy a new pair of socks.

Lesley  16:47  
So talking about odd socks, then if you so let's get let's backtrack a little bit in terms of a system for odd socks. Yes, we all get up odd socks knocking around all the time. I have a little odd sock pile in my laundry room, which I leave and I will leave it for about a week or sitting on the side waiting for its partner just in case because sometimes things do go into the wash, slightly out of sync and you don't always put two socks together. I mean, my husband started bawling socks up together to me and I'm like, but they're not gonna wash properly. Are they if you bought them together, you know. And so I'm like, please stop doing that. That's really annoying. So I know what he was trying to do was trying to not lose his socks. But anyway, but I'll leave them for about a week. But if they're not going to turn up after a week, and you've cleared all of your laundry baskets, they're gone, aren't they? And so every now and again, do yourself a favour and get rid of those old socks. You know, it's not going to be the end of the world if you lose a sock.

Ingrid  17:42  
So the next thing I think on the list of things you can declutter MIDI from your house is video cassettes and tape cassettes right

Lesley  17:51  
before now as you all know, Ingrid is Dutch and English not not that I speak perfect English by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel like it's my personal mission to correct Ingrid, whose English is absolutely amazing. Don't we all agree. But every now and again, she'll say something that creases me with laughter. But she gets wrong. And I feel like I have to tell her what the what the right terminology is. And so before we came on air, we were talking about she kept on calling them tape cassettes. And I'm like they're called cassette tapes. And so we've literally had 10 minutes of talking about video tape video cassette video tape cassettes video, because it was just like, confusing. So our next one is videos and cassette tapes. Ingrid? Yes.

Ingrid  18:35  
I'm so confused now that I'm not going to say they are from like, they are from the 80s I think these these cassettes, let them go, please be willing to let them go. The machines? Do people really still have machines that can work them. I mean, I've, I've I've let them go from my life. I love it. I'm so happy that there might be one or two still knocking about it. But they're not for me. They're probably for my husband.

Lesley  19:04  
Right? I'm going to try and break this down. Because I feel that it's more complicated than you're saying. Yeah, I know. Of course it is. Not that I'm telling you off. But I just feel like there might be a little bit more complexity than you making out. Okay, so videos, let's take videos first. So videos, come in two different guises. Really, don't you so you've got the pre recorded video cassettes that are films and things like that. So you'll have kind of cocktail and pretty woman and things like that from the 80s on videos, they should be very straightforward to get rid of because you will be able to find those streaming very, very easily. The ones that are more complicated are the ones that you've recorded yourself. And they're going to be split into two different things. There's going to be the things where you recorded off the TV. So the things that I've got Coronation Street or whatever the current soap opera is, and then you've got things that are more complicated things like weddings, holidays, christenings, birth of babies, that kind of thing. Those are the ones that are gold dust that we've really got to watch out for. So the ones that are pre recorded with films should be very, very straightforward to get rid of because you do not and will not ever use those. I believe there's no value in them, but don't quote me on that at all. I kind of like four or five generations past that. And the nice thing about getting rid of video cassettes is that they free up loads and loads of space. Yeah, because they're big and bulky. So videos, even if you're not ready to go through and you're a little bit nervous about the ones that you've worked with yourself, get rid of the ones that are pre recorded in the first instance, the ones that have got weddings and Christians aren't for the most part will absolutely be annotated, or you will recognise them easily when you see them. So people get nervous about it. Don't be too nervous. But equally, don't be too hasty. Particularly if you're doing it for someone else, you need to be careful with that. Because that tapes, similar. The problem with that is most cassette tape, again, you've got pre recorded cassette tapes, you've got ones that you've taped on yourself. The problem is that for a lot of people, there's loads and loads of emotion wrapped up in those cassette tapes, because they're things that people have put together for them. But it's very hard because you probably never ever going to listen to them again. Because the quality will be so poor compared to what you're used to listening to now. So think about it video cassettes and see I'm doing it now. video cassettes because that tapes are definitely something that you can get rid of, but just go with a little bit of caution.

Ingrid  21:33  
Yeah, that's true. And I mean, if you do find that winning video you've been hoping to find in your house, there are still companies that can actually put it on a DVD or a steak or a cloud for you. So then I think keep that to decide. But the pre recorded ones, yes, for sure. Maybe you probably have them on DVD now or you can stream so easily. They're not difficult to get hold of anymore. So let's move on. Before we get all tangled up with our cassettes and our tapes and our videos and go into fits of laughter I can't even finished this, this recording, right. Next thing, takeaway menus in there probably somewhere lingering about possibly in the kitchen drawer, possibly maybe in a in a drawer in your living room? I don't know where you order your takeaways. I'm not going to be sure where they are in your house. But you don't need to have taken menus for 25 restaurants in your town because you ordered the same thing probably many with from the same restaurants, right? Yeah.

Lesley  22:35  
So you can probably find that information online. The place where the quite often is in porches, behind letterboxes in holes, things like that piled on with the rest of the paperwork. You know, really, really offload those as soon as they come into the house. Obviously, if it's a replacement for one that you use all the time, change it. But other than that, as Ingrid says three or four, if any,

Ingrid  22:58  
the next thing I wanted to talk to about is that batteries, that's I think not so very difficult to do, especially when you can see that they're all crusted over. And they've been leaking. And they've been hanging around in some random drawers. Those are, I think something that you can declutter from your house immediately.

Lesley  23:17  
Yeah, you just need to get to a stage where you take them to the battery recycling, don't you. So hopefully, the idea is that you've got somewhere that you keep all of your dead batteries together until such time as you then take them somewhere to recycle them responsibly. But that time needs to come at some point, doesn't it? Because otherwise they start to leak and things. And so you know, at least every few months, you need to go and take those batteries to be recycled, or gather them together around your house.

Ingrid  23:44  
It's I think it's gotten a bit easier to recycle batteries. I think in the past, it was quite tricky. You had to kind of bring them to your recycling centre and all of that. But now they've got a box in in the library here. They've got a box in my local supermarket that I can drop them in. So I think I feel it's easier to do it than it was in the past. I don't know, how about you, but it's not as hard work, I think as it was years ago.

Lesley  24:08  
Yeah, people are definitely allowing you to be more responsible. And you know, batteries is definitely something that people really, really do. Just put in general waste, and it's so damaging to the environment. So if there's one thing that you learn from this podcast, it's batteries definitely need to be recycled responsibly.

Ingrid  24:25  
And to make it easy on your shelf, if you kind of ended up with a whole thing of yeah, these are new, these are old. Why don't you just get a little sharpie and a plastic container from a takeaway and just write on a dead batteries. So immediately when you know that something is empty, you can put it in the right container and kind of instead of kind of flinging it in a cupboard and thinking I'll do with it later. Just get an empty jar and empty tin an empty take away container, put a sticker on it, empty batteries and then you kind of are making it issue for yourself.

Lesley  25:01  
Definitely mines in my drawer of useful things as we like to call it. So I've got a little junk drawer in my kitchen that's quite organised. But it's got a few things. And that's where I keep my dead batteries.

Ingrid  25:11  
Yeah, I've got a kind of a utility cupboard. And I've got a little Recycling Receptacle. And one of the things is a little battery books where my empty batteries goes in. So I completely separate the ones that are working and the ones that are not working. They're in two different places in my house. Yeah, to make sure that they don't get muddled up empty jars, Lesley.

Lesley  25:33  
Yeah, people know who they are, don't know people who loves to keep jazz know who they are. So a lot of people will just recycle jazz straightaway. But if you're a baker, or if you make jams, or if you do they call it pickle or anything like that. So it's really the Cox amongst us cooks and bakers amongst us will keep jars for different things or crafters, as well tend to keep jars. And then these jars tend to expand and expand and expand until someone's got 3040 50 jars. And it can be completely overwhelming the amount of jars that you're keeping. So if you've got too many jars, it can take up two cupboards worth of space. And so you need to really work out what you're going to do with them. Have you got an immediate plan to do something with them in the next few weeks? And if not, you need to start taking those numbers right down. And they can just go straight into the recycling. So it's really easy to do. So yeah, just really question whether or not you need all these empty jars.

Ingrid  26:32  
At the moment, I don't have any empty jars in my house. But I know I can easily get a hold of one if I would need one. Maybe like for jam or whatever. But I think it's all about the balance here. It's all about not having, like you said 30 or 40. But maybe having five or six if you think I'm going to have a project that I'm going to need some jars for. You can use them but having cupboards and cupboards full is just too much if you want to create some space in your house.

Lesley  27:05  
Yeah, it's just that compromise, isn't it, find the compromise what's more important to me the empty jar or the space.

Ingrid  27:12  
And then last but not least, lastly, the backs for life, our

Lesley  27:16  
favourite. So open down the country, people have way way too many bags for life and carrier bags, and we can get rid of some of those. And now we can get rid of them responsibly which is nice. We can take carrier bags to the supermarket and bags for life. I send bags for life. If there's excess in a client's house or bikes for life. They will go to the charity shop or the charity shop will always use them. Fantastic. So we have done our top 10 of things you can declutter from your house. I think it'd be really useful for us to recap those as well really quickly. So number one, dead plants and flowers. Number two old newspapers. Number three medicines that are out of date. Number four out of date food I feel like I'm doing the charts. Top 40 Number five odd socks that have been hanging around for ages over to you in return number six.

Ingrid  28:11  
Do you do this specifically because I have to say videotapes.

Lesley  28:19  
So glad that I did.

Ingrid  28:22  
Take away menus from restaurants, dead batteries, empty jars numb and the last one bags for life. So 10 Things you can declutter from your house immediately. That's it listeners for this episode. Lesley, is there anything else you'd like to add?

Lesley  28:39  
Well, the people have liked the idea of getting rid of one thing a day or getting rid of a certain category then with the still time we're only on day 10 Aren't we have our for today's 40 items challenge. So by my reckoning that means it's another 30 days to go. So we've got 30 days left of things you can declutter from your house. So please do come and join us. Ingrid and I are going live every day to show you what we are declutter of my houses can find 40 items, which I'm sure we can. So yeah, so that's it, our top 10 And still another 30 to go if you do have for today's 40 items challenge.

Ingrid  29:10  
Yes, listeners, we hope we have inspired you to look at these items and kind of think you know what I can indeed very easily declutter some of these and I'm going to join in the challenge. So we'd love to see you in the Facebook group, the declutter app community. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen today. If you'd like to get more tips and advice, please follow us on social media. We are on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook is at declutter hub. And of course, we'd love to see you in our Facebook group. We'd love to see you there. Don't forget our membership area where we offer step by step online courses, live q&a sessions and a membership community. If you need some more support to achieve your goals and lead a more fulfilled life without stuff being the focus. The members area is just a thing. Have a look on members dot declutter hub.com for more information. If you don't want to miss the next weekly episode, subscribe to the ticket drop podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and it will pop into your notifications each Friday. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Outro  30:16  
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the declutter hub podcast. Check out declutterhub.com for more inspiration, don't forget to tune in next week

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ONE WAY TO MAKE AN IMPACT ON YOUR CLUTTER IN LESS THAN AN HOUR

Pride of place in lots and lots of lounges up and down the country are shelf upon shelf of videos. Barney, Bagpuss, Loveboat, Jane Fonda, Ivor the Engine – there they are in all their glory reminding us of a bygone era. The one thing that isn’t there is something to play them on. And how many can you get on a shelf ? Ten maybe or fifteen if you’re lucky because they are huge, cumbersome things. They were a brilliant thing to have (in the eighties and nineties) but now they are three or four generations old cast aside by DVDs, BluRays and then downloads and streaming.

But it's hard to get rid of things because

You spent a lot of money on them
They brought so much pleasure to your family
They have so much sentiment attached to them

Nevertheless they should go, they really should – you need to try and overcome the obstacles of cost, usefulness and sentiment. So look at and focus on the positives. Yes, they did give your family pleasure and you do look at some of them and go “aah” so you can safely say that in most cases you have had your ten pounds’ worth out of them. If you’re still struggling to get out the black bin liner just think about the space. You will free up lots and lots of space.

A word of warning, charity shops will be unlikely to want your videos. Foreign charities might so go down that avenue.

And beware of the blank video cassette. It may just have a wedding, birth or graduation on it so check carefully!

So, if you have a free hour in the next couple of days, do yourself and your home a favour and get rid of some videos. You know you want to!

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Recent Posts

Episode 361 – Decluttering for yourself – why Swedish death cleaning might not be for you

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Rebecca says:

14 February 2024 at 1:17 PM

In relation to potatoes!! Yes you are right Lesley. My dad had an allotment and we kept potatoes with dirt on for nearly a year in our back outhouse! I think my local greengrocers you can buy a big bag of potatoes but never bought one to see …. Would be interesting to know. Now potatoes last literally a week .. so yes I’ve thought the same too 😊 I think it’s lack of dirt, they are all the same size and I think treated as well probably! It’s a puzzle!

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Episode 75 – 10 things to declutter from your home immediately!

ONE WAY TO MAKE AN IMPACT ON YOUR CLUTTER IN LESS THAN AN HOUR

But it's hard to get rid of things because

Episode 361 – Decluttering for yourself – why Swedish death cleaning might not be for you

Episode 360 – Gretchen Rubin – The secret to happiness in a cluttered world

Episode 359 – Matt Paxton – Finding the treasures in the trash

Episode 358 – Ingrid and Lesley go hypothetical

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Unpack your emotions and your clutter, step by step