A photograph of a smiling woman wearing glasses - guest Tracy - wearing a blue exercise top with a group of other people doing yoga in the background in an outdoor space
Episode 99 – My decluttering journey with Tracy

A decluttering journey looks very different depending on your circumstances and mindset. Tracy tells us how her aha moments came during some of our podcasts and how she has progressed in her decluttering journey.
Tracy is a yoga teacher and tells us how Aparigraha, the yogic teaching of non attachment, is so closely related to decluttering and how her journey with decluttering has enhanced her teaching of yoga.
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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  0:32  
Hello, and welcome listeners to Episode 99 of the Declutter Hub Podcast. I'm Ingrid. In today's episode, I'm talking to Tracy from Horsham, West Sussex, here in the UK. Tracy runs her own award winning Yoga Studio in the south of England. And she has been a VIP member of the declutter hub membership since September last year. She's absolutely loving her decluttering journey. And Tracy reached out to me unless you said, can I please come on to your podcast? Because I really want to share my story with you. So we were like so excited to her like, absolutely come on the podcast. So welcome, Tracy. We're so happy you're here.

Tracy  1:15  
Thank you, Ingrid, thank you so very much for having me. I really appreciate it both to you. And Lesley,

Ingrid  1:21  
you're so so welcome. And we had a lovely chat already this morning, didn't we? Kind of everything and congratulations on winning your award for best yoga studio. That was exciting.

Tracy  1:31  
I know. Thank you, Ingrid. Yeah, best Yoga Studio in Sussex. I won an award. So yeah, very exciting. Thank you.

Ingrid  1:38  
So have you been doing yoga for a long time? And how did it come about? And I've got so many questions I want to ask you.

Tracy  1:46  
And we've talked about it. Yes. I have been practising yoga for a long time. Yes. I got into yoga after a really nasty traffic accident in 1997. So yeah, I was hit by a bus in Vancouver when I was in studying in Canada. And it was a life changing moment. Absolutely. For me. So yeah, that's how, you know trying to rehabilitate a year or so later, a doctor told me doctor at the foreign office where I worked at the time said, we can't post you abroad, you need to get better try yoga. So that was the start of my yoga journey. 1998. Yeah. Yeah, a long time ago now. And I just got hooked from the very, very first class I went to I was totally hooked. I loved it.

Ingrid  2:27  
So you started with classes? And then you kind of became a teacher? And now you own your own studio, then?

Tracy  2:33  
Yes, that's right. Yes. When it was when I met my husband, I realised that working in an office and doing the job that I did was keeping me quite stagnant. And it wasn't really fulfilling me, either physically or emotionally at all. So I, you know, we spoke my husband and I and I said that and then I wanted to train to be a yoga teacher, and teach from a summer house at the end of our garden, which is where summer house yoga comes from, because our house and I've gotten so yeah, I trained in from 2004 and qualified in 2007. So I've been teaching yoga since then, since 2007. But it was when we moved to Horsham in. Well, just over 10 years ago, we moved to Horsham, and I set up some house yoga then. And so the studio is at my home in my home people come to classes normally. But obviously at the moment everything's online. It's been a real journey for me but one that I've absolutely loved, really. So feel so grateful to be able to teach teach yoga at home. Yeah, and I've recently added a kind of a well being onto onto my yoga so yeah, summerhouse yoga and well being. And that's really I think, you know, the link with with you Ingrid. And with the declutter hub, the kind of the well being side of side of things. Yeah. Well, we're definitely

Ingrid  3:53  
going to do Tracy. So we're gonna put your link to summer house yoga in the show notes, because you can actually see a picture of Tracy summer house in her garden in case you're like thinking to yourself, oh, how does this work with this? Summer House? I'm intrigued. So we'll put a link to your website in the show notes so people can have a look to see how and it looks very relaxing. It looks very relaxing.

Tracy  4:14  
Thank you very much.

Ingrid  4:16  
So we were talking this morning, and you mentioned something very interesting because you think that some parts of the teachings within yoga are linked to the cluttering, can you tell me that? I find that very interesting. So can you tell us a little about that?

Tracy  4:34  
Absolutely. Yeah. So the kind of philosophical Foundations of Yoga. So we go right back to a really kind of ancient texts called the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. And people think that yoga is just about kind of making shapes on it on a yoga mat. Really, and it really really isn't. That's that's not yoga. Certainly not all the entirety of yoga. We go back to kind of the basic principles fundamental flaw syrupy. And there's two particular aspects of yoga. We call it the yamas and the knee Amoz. And then ways in which they're kind of the do's and don'ts of yoga, how do we live our lives? How do we interact with the world? How do we interact with ourselves, our families, our homes. And there's two particular aspects of those that I think really Lincoln with me with decluttering, my decluttering journey, one of which is called a paragraph Aha, which translates as non grasping. Interestingly, one of the definitions is non hoarding, and non attachment not being attached to anything, really, whether that's material things or places, or even people and pets. I'll come back to that in a minute. And the second aspect is called stature, or cleanliness and tidiness, and that is, of our homes, of our beings are persons of our minds of our emotions. So just having that purity, you know, not just a body, possibly practice through, you know, the yoga postures and things, but also where we're practising yoga having this kind of lovely, clean, tidy space. And therefore, and of our homes as well, going back to their paragraph, or the, their non attachment when I first learned about that was on my teacher training back in 2014 1005. And my first child, my oldest daughter, Emma, was a baby like a tiny baby, then. So you know, and we had just moved into a lovely new home. And I had my family and I was okay, that concept is not for me, definitely not, you know, there are things in yoga that I absolutely love. Definitely, you know, I'll take these on board, I'll work with them, not that one. And that, you know, going back kind of 1516 years, definitely do a paragraph on non attachment, I can't do that I'm very attached to this little baby, and to my home and things in my home, I take lots of photographs as well. So really attached to my photographs. And just that concept is not for me, of course, over the years, I've learned and, you know, practices ways in which I can practice this particular concept in yoga. And I think, with your help joining the declutter hub, and that's that's helped me even further in my journey towards non attachment. And so living that I was already quite good at, such as the cleanliness and tidiness. I'm pretty good at that. But they're to go hand in hand. Really? Yeah, they're the main, I think, philosophical ideas of yoga that really spoke to me and LinkedIn with, with with the declutter help, definitely.

Ingrid  7:40  
I find it very interesting, because I hadn't I have done a little bit of yoga myself. It's a while ago, it then started clashing with my singing and singing. came above yoga, I'm sorry to say mainly

Tracy  7:53  
singing is wonderful. Yeah.

Ingrid  7:57  
For sure, for sure. So I but in my head, it was always about, you know, the downward dog and being able to sit in cross legged and so it's, I find it very interesting to learn from you that there are so many parts connected to yoga. Yeah.

Tracy  8:16  
So much more to yoga than just the mat. So, so, so much more. And then the really interesting aspects. Really, yeah. So everybody comes to us, everybody, most people come to yoga for the physical. But they ended up staying for all of these other, you know, emotional, mindful aspects of of yoga. So yeah, these are all come from one of the ancient texts, the Yoga Sutras are potente. So like this eight limbed eight limb steps, and the first two before you even do any postures, include those aspects that I was just talking about earlier of non attachment, and cleanliness.

Ingrid  8:51  
What was your kind of how and why did you go into decluttering? I mean, because I mean, I know you were gonna talk about our podcast a little bit in a little bit. But what kind of happened, what shifted for you?

Tracy  9:03  
I think it was having the children really, I've got two girls 16 and 12. Now, and it was just that kind of that family home situation where you've just, you know, you get some presents for the children, lots of toys, we had lots of outdoor toys, and lots of indoor toys. We are lucky enough to have a lovely home with lots of space, but even so, you know, we just there was just too much stuff too much stuff. So my first kind of foray into I think was actually selling things on a local Facebook page. So I realised that we had, believe it or not about five toy brands. And so one Sunday, I just put all of these five or perhaps four of the five toe prams to a local Facebook selling page and was absolutely astounded that 10 minutes later, they'd all been spoken for. Yeah, that enjoyment that rush that you know that A happy happiness of stuff going leaving the house finding more space. Because those five pushed it as it all lived in the summer house. Getting to space back in the summer house was just wonderful. And so yeah, I think that was the start of it. And just realising that I needed to keep on top of the children getting older, growing out of toys growing out of clothes, and needing to, you know, find homes to, for them to go to, but I'm not somebody as a lot of your members are exactly the same. We don't like to just definitely don't want to put things into landfill. We want to find ways to recycle things or for other things to get a happy home. I mean, a lot of your listeners will know a lot of toys and clothes from children are barely used valuable and and, and definitely someone else can benefit from them. So yeah, that was the first thing. And then, of course, I started looking a little bit more into what we had around the home. So my husband is very, he doesn't communicate anything at all, you know. So he is one of these people who if he buys three new T shirts and three old T shirts go out if he buys five new shirts, five old shirts go out, I am absolutely not like that at all. I am the total opposite I mentioned I really struggled with the concept of non attachment. And I definitely over the years have been attached to things whether that's clothes or ornaments or, you know, photographs, whatever it may be, and I find it really hard to get rid of stuff. But I was managing to do it quite easily with the two most of the children's stuff, not all of them. My husband manages to do it really, really well. But of course, I'm the one that's in charge of the house and the home. And so I realised that I probably needed a bit of help for myself to help to sort my own things out my own clothes, the rooms, the you know, I mean, I'm still I still have actually Ingrid, despite your recent podcasts, I still have all my course notes from my university degrees. I probably keep one kind of published research paper when I eventually get around to doing them, but yeah, I still have a lot of books and a lot of Yeah, yeah, I struggle. So I needed some help for for myself, I think. Yeah. And that was looking for. So yeah, I guess I was just searching the internet and podcasts or decluttering things. And I think I came across your podcast that declutter hub, maybe around the start of 2019 the end of 2018 the start of 2019 I came across your your declutter, podcasts and thought this visit these are the people I like them. I tried a couple of others. But yeah, your voice is your practical advice. super practical advice. Yeah. Just thought right. This is it. This is my journey. I'm going to really grab grasp onto this.

Ingrid  12:54  
And you you you've listened to I think all of them, haven't you, JC? Oh, yeah. And you've got a couple of favourites as well.

Tracy  13:01  
Oh, yes, absolutely. I do. Yeah, I've got a few favourites actually, but I have whittled them down to the top three, or top three and a half anyway. Yeah, so my favourites I think, in no particular order, I have to say my favourites. Oh, well maybe think possibly the first one I listened to was episode 16 with an bloomer, who was talking about her five steps to organising. And, and in that one, she also mentioned the podcasts number two that you and Lesley did about what's the difference between decluttering and organising and tidying, and listening to those two podcasts together was just that was my aha moment, my lightbulb moment, you know, oh, my goodness, me I can start to see, you know, my home and my stuff. As Yeah, like, like a project things that is I need to invest some time into this. I need to really think about this and, and make some progress. And of course, so I used and five steps. I'm not going to remember them all now. But the first one was definitely strategize, prioritise. You know, and then it carried on. So it was what do you use this space for? You know, but looking around the room that you're in and your home? What is this used for? And there's everything in that space, useful, or beautiful? In the words of William Morris, for that space? Do you need to have it there? Is it in the wrong space? prioritising them? Do? You need to have it at all? Can you declutter it basically, that's the first and that was the link with your decluttering and then to kind of, okay, then find systems find systems and processes to put in place in that room that makes that room work. Now, I think I started with quite a difficult room because it was a small room. That was our office, which is now a snug so that's where all of my yoga books are. That's where all of Fall kind of filing is also we, the girls and I, my daughters, and I love to sew. So our two sewing machines are in that rooms and crafting stuff, you know, that kind of thing. And it was all dissolved is all of this in the right place, we had a desk in there and a chair. So we sold the desk. So the chair got rid of that we didn't need them, they were just attracting clutter, put in a small sofa instead. And I'm really kind of, yeah, that room became usable again, rather than being a dumping ground that that room became usable again, and I loved it. So that was the first my first kind of favourite podcast. My second one, which is possibly my all time favourite is the command centre, that podcast about the command centre number 21. And that was you and Lesley talking about how to set up again, it was about bringing things together, you know, so, or thinking of all those jobs that you have to do on a day to day basis, you know, get the kids out to school, a plan your day work, you know, plan a meal, make them whatever it may be. And all of the other jobs have everything in one place, have your command centre, and I so I set about probably that very day, setting up a command centre in my utility, I have a small utility that no one else goes in, but me and it's my space. So I kind of played everything off surfaces and made my own little command centre. So I now have three notice boards in there, one for me and each of the two girls. And you know, and unlike on the wall calendar, I moved my iPad in there and you know, all sorts of stuff like that, that I just loved. So I loved that episode, and I remember sharing that episode with a really, really good friend of mine. She absolutely loved it as well. And then she and I would share photos of our commands with each other. That was brilliant. I really enjoyed that episode. And then my third of the top three has to be from frazzled to focused with Rivka Caroline, where she gave us some steps to kind of move being, you know, busy mums, how do we move from being frazzled to focus, and that really appealed to me because at the time that one came out, that was episode 46, I hadn't said I was feeling a bit frazzled, I was definitely feeling a bit chaotic. And her first kind of piece of advice was about meal planning. You probably remember I know you've done other meal planning quicker since then, as well specifically to that, but that was her first one. And she said Don't try and do I think there might have been 10 suggestions. Don't try and do all 10 in one day or even one week, do them one at a time. Get that routine, establish that new habit formation, get that established, and then see if you can move on to the next one. And the very first one was meal planning. Now that was really important to me at the time, because four nights a week I was having yoga students coming in after dinner, eight o'clock four nights a week, and staying to attend. So dinner had to be ready had to be on the table I had to be. And I don't like cooking. I just don't I remember Rivka saying actually, one of the one of the things you said was, you know, the thing is that children need to eat every day. That's a real thing. But every day, and I really felt like that that's a real pain. It's terrible to say isn't it, but it's a real pain they need to eat every day. And, and I'm not good at cooking. So I was definitely one of those mums that was going to the shops almost every day or every other day and just, you know, buying whatever for that night. So it wasn't in any way focused or organised or anything else. And on the back of that podcast, my husband and I started with the children with the girls. On a Sunday we'd make a meal plan for the week. And whether I was cooking it or perhaps was when they would come home from work a little bit early to be able to make dinner, and we'd shop to the menu and we cooked it and it was so so so much more organised. Remember, if you're saying I don't want you to be that mom that is driving home from in my case, it could be dance classes or trampolining classes or whatever. And thinking about what on earth am I going to put on the table? And it's already covered for six? And I was absolutely that person. Definitely. So that helped me during the meal planning and getting dinner perhaps we bought a slow cooker. So that that was done and put away by the time where students were writing for yoga classes, which was just so so so much better. So yeah, that my top three recommendations I think,

Ingrid  19:30  
love it. Love it. So then you you because you were you're listening to the podcast, you were getting kind of getting bits and bobs done in your house. But then you decided to join the declutter hub, didn't you?

Tracy  19:43  
Yes, I did. So I'd been listening to you for oh, well, would it have been? Yeah, quite a few months by then at least a year or so. Yeah. And following you on Facebook as well being part of the community, which I love being Part of that, definitely. And my birthday is at the end of August and my mum, bless, it always gives me some money for my birthday, which is what I asked for. That's great when I just knew I just didn't want any more stuff. I had enough handbags. I had enough jewellery, I had enough of Ivan of everything I didn't. I was, I was at the phase then. Really, really getting rid of things, trying to declutter my stuff as well. And I thought, right, I know what I'm going to spend this money on. I knew we're doing a lovely special offer. And I thought I'm going to be a member. I'm going to be one of your first members of the club. So yeah, so that's what I spent my my birthday money. That's strange.

Ingrid  20:43  
It sounds like a very good investment to me.

Tracy  20:50  
It has been? Absolutely it has been a brilliant investment. Yeah, I've loved it. And it has helped me to keep going. So your courses, I've had many happy moments myself in the kitchen with before pre lockdown with girls at school, my husband at work, and just watching on my iPad or whatever, your videos and making notes and right okay, I'm going to start to tackle this room or this drawer or this wardrobe or whatever it may be with the help of your video courses. So yeah, many are happy time when I was in the house of by myself, you know, getting ready to do some decluttering and organising and taking lots of things to a local charity shop or to some of the collections, the recycling collection centres, or putting them on the local Facebook pages for selling I do quite a lot of what have had been doing quite a lot of that previously. So yeah, I've really, really enjoyed being part of the members area. Definitely.

Ingrid  21:51  
How do you think doing it more? Which structured courses? And how has that changed the way you do your decluttering? And how has it changed your view about your home?

Tracy  22:04  
I think? Well, one of the things that obviously being part of the declutter, hub gives you is accountability. So I like accountability. I can do things on my own from my own with my own motivation. But I definitely find accountability helps. Absolutely. So. So knowing that, perhaps, you know, I might be reporting back on, you know, into the Facebook group or into the members area, or, you know, on a call with with you and Lesley, I remember asking one of the questions. You know, in your kind of live q&a sessions, I remember being so proud or one of my questions got chosen to get talked about listening intently and making notes. And I just think that having the structure and the interaction with you as professionals, has just encouraged me to do it really to make time for it to perhaps to schedule some time for it. So that's a real kind of strategy, isn't it to try to make sure that you're doing this, this thing, I think it's easy for us just to carry on living in our homes and not noticing what's around us. The home I was brought up in, you know, my house at home, oh, my mum and my mum and dad and my sister. Our home was very cluttered. You know, neither my mum or dad ever really got rid of anything, they loved their stuff. And so I think it's very easy for people to do that. And just to continue with that. But if you know that you want to start to make your home a bit more organised a bit tidier, a bit calmer, more serene, then you've got to there's work to do. And to do that work, you've got to treat it like work really schedule a time for it. Maybe be accountable to somebody or you know, a group or like like the declutter, hub provides and to have some goals, you know, some priorities. So you're kind of video courses and I know that some of them you've done have, you know, are in a particular order so that you can build on things you don't necessarily start with the hardest things start with some easy things so that I know you and Lesley say things like you need to build these decluttering muscles. You need to you know, just like anything, perhaps in a yoga practice, you've got to practice and practice a particular posture or practice to develop those skills. It's the same in decluttering, isn't it? You've got to practice it and you through the members area, we get those lessons, I think they're literally called Lessons lessons in, in how to how to declutter and which rooms to tackle when and obviously it's different for everybody. It's different. You know, some people might have extremely tidy bedrooms, but not so much of a tidy kitchen or whatever. I'm probably the other way around. So yeah, mainly it was the upstairs mostly it was the upstairs of my house that I needed to tackle because the downstairs of my home with lots of yoga students, you know, upwards of 80 students a week coming into Well downstairs area that is kept pretty clean and tidy and very clutter free. As I mentioned, my husband is very you know, he keeps almost nothing. And so are our living areas downstairs that translate into a yoga studio four days a week. That's all very clutter free. But upstairs I really Yeah, I needed to tackle and so I spent Yeah, many many a happy afternoon myself following your video courses. Tackling things upstairs in the bedrooms and the bathrooms and and it could be really small things like you know, I've spent a lovely hour going with with my girls going through all our makeup or nail polishes or whatever. I remember one time going through all my nail polishes. My younger daughter when we come in about 40 nail polishes. I mean, I kid you not. And I very rarely wear nails.

Ingrid  25:50  
That was that was the next question I wanted to ask you has it had an impact on your family and on your children is one on your partner, I found that very interesting,

Tracy  25:59  
really, as I'm laughing because before lockdown, it got to the stage and my girls would say to me that they were always frightened to like frightened to come home from school to find out what mum had got rid of next day we're starting to get protective of their bedrooms and things. Because I've got to the stage and you know, decluttering quite a lot. But I you know, typically I would make sure that even if I had brought it out of their rooms is a suggestion for what might go I would actually, of course, make sure I'd ask that permission before anything did actually actually go. And for the most part, my older daughter was like my husband, she will let go of anything and everything has no attachment to stuff. And my younger daughter is much more like me and just loves, loves her things and finds it really hard to say goodbye and let go of things. So yeah, my Yeah, we've really enjoyed it. Actually, I remember doing the kitchen utensil challenge one time. And obviously I mentioned that I don't like to cook works. My husband who likes to cook so the kitchen utensils are really his. So we had to we went through that together, he and I and yeah, he really enjoyed it actually, that we got rid of about half of our stuff. Stationary I've done with the girls, I remember there was one time we did that was probably might have been in the 40 Day Challenge. We would get getting rid of all winter hats and scarves and everything. And I was doing it by myself initially, obviously stuff that girls have grown out of. And I mean, you wouldn't believe how many hats and scarves we've got or did have. It's absolutely ridiculous. But of course, then my husband started actually pulling out coats and everything about the other challenge. And it was like this massive pile and the whole floor. That was not just not just hats and scarves and gloves. It was you know, coats and boots and everything. Because he got involved. Right, you can get rid of this. Yeah, so there there there, please. Yeah, actually, I tell you, I'll tell you a little story, which is that when my husband and I were before we had our first child, and we were living in quite a small house. And so we were going to be moving to a bigger house and I the loft. I had put lots and lots of stuff in the loft. mostly empty boxes, because they have side, the work, you know, being brought up at home. My family had kept loads of stuff. That was what I thought people did keep empty boxes. So they were all in the loft. I was very pregnant, so couldn't go in the lab to tour myself. And so my husband had to do it all took him about a week. I remember him saying to me, this is taking so long, you've got so much stuff up there. And so yeah, that was it. He said You are never ever putting anything in a loft again ever. So we don't have anything in our loft. Just nothing and no empty boxes anymore. Of course they all go as soon as anything comes in the empty boxes go.

Ingrid  28:52  
Yeah. So you've also had like a kind of like you were saying it's been really strange time over lockdown as well. Isn't it for you? Because you had 80 or 100 students during the week at home in your house all the time. And now all of a sudden, yeah, you've had to take your whole yoga studio online. And it's actually it's yeah, it's really impacted your time in lockdown, isn't it?

Tracy  29:17  
Yeah. So I had to close the yoga studio even before lockdown because one of my students who had been here unfortunately contracted the disease. He was really poorly for a while but he is better now thankfully, and amazingly, nobody else who was in that group did come down with with COVID-19 but it did mean fie contact me on this Sunday to let me know and it did mean that I had to make the decision obviously that day that there were going to be no more physics classes physically here. So I had literally 24 hours to decide and you know, get something up and running so that I didn't let any of my students down so that they could still have their classes when they were expecting them on Monday afternoon Monday evening and you know all of the classes that I have during the week, I just, you know, completely went into overdrive trying to think what I could do, and recording recording yoga classes for each each of my classes that I would have so that all of my students could still practice yoga with me, just in the comfort of their home, rather than the comfort of my home so that we kept everybody safe. There was no possibility I could carry on I'd already been, you know, doing the all of the cleaning and making sure people washing hands not not lending out any equipment and things like that already. But that was just overnight, I had to switch to online business. So sadly, we were right in the middle of the 40 day 40 items challenge, weren't we? Yeah, it was absolutely loving. And I was posting every day that you know, way more than 40 items I was getting through. I think that might have been one of the points of my girls were getting scared at what was this, you were really encouraging us to like 40 days, 40 items, get it out of the house as well. So yeah, I was really loving that challenge. And then, yeah, then this happened. And I just 100% focused on my yoga students really my yoga business moving everything online, stopped decluttering stopped posting on the declutter, hub, Facebook group stopped going into the members area, just absolutely lost everything and anything I'd been doing with decluttering, which was a real shame, but I was 100% focused on I've only ever done before lockdown only ever done yoga classes in person in my home, barely need to advertise all my classes are full with people from personal recommendation from students that have been coming for 10 years and more and barely had any knowledge of technology at all. Before all of this and it was a just been a huge, huge learning curve, but one that's ultimately been quite successful. And when I've managed it and done it, I felt really Yeah. Do you

Ingrid  31:56  
think do you think that because you had a lot less clutter in your house, you were able to focus on getting that that mindset to do this? Because you didn't have so much clutter? Maybe in your brain?

Tracy  32:12  
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant question. Absolutely brilliant person, you know, yes, definitely. Because clutter in your home that physical clutter absolutely translates into mental clutter. Totally. So yeah, I think that's a fantastic question that I was able just to switch and my my brain and my energy, just was totally able to focus on on that one thing on moving all of my yoga classes and my yoga business online. Definitely. Yeah, I think that's a great question. So I mentioned all of the downstairs of our house is always is always pretty clutter free and tidy. You know, we keep on top of it, mainly because of the yoga and people coming in, but because we really love it that way as well. It's wonderful to have that freedom of mind to be able to focus so yeah, I think possibly that really is true. I so I mentioned the snug that we have and all of my yoga books and resources that I'm quite attached to. Were all in that snug. And I moved them all into our living area which would have been the yoga studio so that I had everything at hand around me

Ingrid  33:20  
and your now everything is settling down a bit and you're now kind of pivoting back to, to doing some stuff in the declutter hub again, aren't you?

Tracy  33:29  
I felt after a few weeks, I don't know how long it was, was it 10 weeks or so I've locked down or you know, and recording and doing online classes and things I just suddenly started to feel as if I could breathe again and do things that I enjoyed again, you know, we'd got into recording classes, sending out classes you know, keeping my whole community going doing lots of Facebook Lives. So I was doing a Facebook Live every single day. And I'd learned that actually from you and Lesley that keeping people connected through Facebook during the lives is a really brilliant way to keep your community engaged and I felt that I owed it to to my community so I was doing Facebook lives every day and there's so much going on and I didn't have room in my head for anything else at all but I just I got to this stage where I felt as if I can lift my head up again I can breathe I can lift up and look up and and the girls had noticed mom come home you know there's things in the house again that need to go there's rubbish here and you know because we don't buy loads but there were things coming in or things they were growing out of my daughter's now she's finished school she'll be going to college she wants to get new clothes for college Fingers crossed. And come on we've not been doing any Khatri what's happening so I thought you know I'm ready to get back into it. I'm ready to dive back into the membership area into the Facebook group and and I reached out to you with the email and said I'm so sorry you've not heard a thing from me for all these weeks. And I feel ready to kind of rejoin actually And then if you have, it would have me to be to be on the podcast. So yeah, and to do other things that I enjoy, I mentioned, I enjoy sewing and things like that as well. So just finding a bit of time to do to do other things has been has been really, really a bit of a relief, actually. So the yoga was settled, it's going there's a structure now, the Yeah, weekly classes are going there's new new courses here. Yeah, I just, I mean, I remember during that 14 day challenge, as we said, just kind of my last post, I think on the 40 day challenge was Today I've decided I have to declare 80 people a week from my home. And you know, I need to get on with focusing on on taking yoga online, and then you heard nothing from

Ingrid  35:44  
but that's, that's the thing, that's that's life as well. And, uh, sometimes things get in the way a little bit. But, you know, there's always then that opportunity to come back. And to kind of go, you know, what, I'm gonna pick up where I've left off. And just because you've left for a little bit, you're not you're not forgotten. But sometimes things happen. And we all have the same. And that's why it's you know, it's so interesting to hear your story. And last question, I want to ask you, Tracy, is there anything else you would like to share with our listeners, things that you think? You know what, that's been really brilliant? I've really learned that. Yeah, in this decluttering journey? Yeah.

Tracy  36:24  
What the, in a way, I think decluttering and yoga are quite the same in you saying that, you know, you can leave it for a while and things get in the way. And, you know, perhaps either with a decluttering journey like mine, or you know, a yoga practice, things get in the way, and you lose your way for a bit. And that's okay, it's always ready and willing to take you back. Definitely. And I think the other thing is, a lot of people think perhaps, you know, this, oh, this decluttering is not not for me, I My home is fine. You know, I'm not a hoarder. You know, I remember Jill saying in the podcast that she did with Lesley recently that she was, you know, watching the hoarding programmes, thinking this, this isn't me. And then one thing made her say, you know, what, things could be better, I don't want to live like this anymore. And whether it's just, you know, I mean, pick, my home does not have lots of clutter, but we really like very little. So it's just that acknowledgement, that kind of understanding that decluttering like yoga, even even if you're not at the extreme of needing it, it can really help to bring you happiness, and to bring you joy, and just to live with more freedom to live more contently having a more of a decluttered home, similar to yoga, a decluttered mind and a body free of pain, then it just allows you to live more at ease with yourself and your family as well. So yeah, so I would I would really encourage anybody to to join you because it's it has definitely helped me to kind of, you know, to get over that final hurdle that I mentioned the non attachment earlier and I think that was where I really struggled i i was attached to things and going through your lessons and your courses, I have learned how to not be quite so attached how to let things go. And in that, from that letting go of things. I've been able to be more at ease be more joyful, be calmer in my home. And in my way of living at home. Definitely. So yeah, so I definitely encourage anyone to to join you. At least join the Facebook groups fantastic community really friendly and people from all over the world on a it's just, it's lovely.

Ingrid  38:47  
Well, we love having you as our VIP member Tracy, thank you. So lovely to have you in the membership and thank you for sharing with with me this morning. Your your journey about your home and your life and how links decluttering and yoga are so interesting. So thank you for being here and being our guest and we'll we'll put all of your details, your your website and your Facebook page, etc. All in the show notes. If you'd like to find out more about Tracy. Definitely make sure and we'll also put in the show notes, all the podcasts that are Tracy's favourites, we'll put those in the in the in the show notes as well. So if you want to have a listen to them, or go back to them and maybe re listen to them, you can definitely do so. So thanks, Tracy. So

Tracy  39:31  
thank you so very much for having me in group. Thank you. I've really enjoyed it.

Ingrid  39:36  
Well, listeners, I hope you have learned a lot today as well. And Tracy's insights have been helpful for you and you feel inspired to take action maybe maybe you're thinking to yourself, I am going to join the membership. That sounds amazing. We would love to have you. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please share it with others. Maybe your friends or family would love our show to win on our show notes page. You can find the sharing buttons and if you want more handy tips and advice from Lesley and now you can find us in lots of places. And exactly like Tracy said, We have a fantastic supportive Facebook group called the declutter hub community, which is a great starting point and we're on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and you can find us at declutter hub and we'd love to see you there. If you want to know more about our membership Check, check out members Delta, declutter hub.com If you don't want to miss the next weekly episode, please subscribe to the declutter podcast Apple property notifications each Friday, and we've been asking for reviews, which make a huge difference to us. So if you've enjoyed today's podcast or any other way we'd love to, for you to take a couple of minutes of your day to leave us a review. So thanks so much for listening, and see you next time.

Outro  40:48  
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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