A graphic image in green saying 10 motivational decluttering quotes to take you into 2025
Episode 326 – 10 motivational decluttering quotes to take you into 2025

Do you love a motivational quote? We do too! And in today’s podcast we are sharing some of our favorites from other people and some of our own to catapult you successfully into 2025.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
00:00
Do you love a motivational quote? We do too. And in today's podcast, we are sharing some of our favorites from other people and some of our own to catapult you successfully into 2025 Well, hello and welcome listeners to the last podcast of 2024 Oh my goodness. And I am like laughing still, because Leslie said right before I pressed record on this podcast Ingrid,

00:30
I'm gonna bring my fun side and it just take off me so much. I'm still laughing. I'm still laughing about it.

00:37
Try to, I'm gonna, you know, try to bring my fun side quite a lot, but I think it's really important to end 2024 on a high. It's been a fabulous year, I think, hasn't it? Oh, my

00:52
goodness. I mean, normally we do like a wrap up of the year, but, I mean, we, we, we just decided to do motivational quotes. But I think if we would have done a rep of the year, let me we could have done a four part podcast Exactly, exactly,

01:07
because there's been so much that happened. But what we decided to do was to do a motivational quote podcast, because we do you we like a motivational quote where we like to see them. You know, sometimes you just read something like, oh, that really resonates with me. And it might only resonate with you on a certain day. So it might not resonate with you all the time, but there might be a certain day when you go, do you know what? That's just what I needed this morning to get me started. And so some of these are our favorites. What we've done is we've done five favorites of other people that we stand right behind, and then we've got five other ones that we use all the time, which may not be our own. To be fair, we might have just adopted them and we're but we're passing them off as our own right. I feel like we might have been influenced by somebody along the way, but kind of like declutter mantras, that's what we're going to do. And hopefully, between the 10 motivational quotes we're going to give you today. You're going to feel all like, yay.

02:03
Got

02:04
this for 2025

02:07
I know. Can you believe it's 2025? Nearly Oh my goodness. So yeah, we Leslie, let's not forget to wish people happy new year at the end of this podcast, because it's the last podcast. Can you believe it? Episode to

02:21
self. Listeners, a happy new year Ingrid. You're the one that has to write these things down. I know. I know. If she doesn't wish you a Happy New Year, then it's an epic fail for the end of 2024 That's all I ask. Let's crack on Ingrid. Let's

02:39
crack on. Quote, and I one of the first one is like one of my favorite quotes, and it is, have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. From William Morris, I love that quote, and especially because William Morris lived around the corner from where I live, in southeast London, and his house is like a five minute drive from my house, and I've been in his house with all the beautiful wallpapers and all the things that he developed. So this has a special, special connection to me. This quote, I love it,

03:25
yeah, and I think it really resonates right, because what it's saying is, you know what, if something's not useful at all, and we're going to let you away with things that are beautiful, because we can have things around us that just look nice, then you really need to start asking questions. That's the basic No. It's a little bit like, do you need it? Do you love it? Do you use it? So it's a more kind of flowery way of saying the same thing, which is the crux of where all decluttering starts. You need to ask yourself the basic questions. And William Morris has asked it very eloquently, have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believed to be beautiful, so we like that. So it's the basis on which all decluttering stands.

04:07
I know I love it. It's really good, really good. Shall we go on with the second one? Leslie, yes. Oh, okay, right. Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it's not all mixed up. From a a Milner, love it. Oh,

04:29
look, she said that in a Dutch way, AA Milner, we say, AA Milne, Milne. Oh,

04:39
yeah, familiar with AA Milne? Mil Yes,

04:42
he does. Winnie the Pooh, doesn't he? Aa

04:44
Milner, yeah, exactly. That's okay. I'm just like to pick you up on these little things, knowing Holland now you know Ingrid here in the UK. But anyway, so which one of AA Milne's characters do you think so? That, I reckon that's Winnie the Pooh, right?

05:02
I It's not, it's not taker bouncing around.

05:10
Yeah, exactly it could be, though nothing is that feels like it's Winnie the Pooh being all kind of like, yeah, I need to all kind of nice, and I need to make a plan. So basically, what AA Milne stroke, Winnie the Pooh, we think we should have maybe researched it before we came online. So please do tell us if it's not Winnie the Pooh, is that all good organizing and decluttering projects start with a plan, and we stand right behind that. As boring as it may seem, we can't just jump straight into a decluttering project. We have to do the planning right. And so because if you don't do the planning, as Winnie the Pooh says, it's going to get all mixed up, and so you're going to feel more overwhelmed than when you started. So you need to logistically make a plan, break it down, and that's going to stand you in good stead. Yeah. And you

06:01
know what I also kind of, but it also, in my head, alludes to a little bit, is that the categorization is so important, because you categorize different things in groups, so it's not all mixed up. So when you want to look at it, it makes more sense to you. And yeah, I think it's it's, it's, there's so many links there with decluttering and organizing. I think it's a fabulous quote. So it definitely made the top list, didn't it? Leslie, it did.

06:29
I quite like this last which I know

06:31
next one is also so good, it always seems impossible until it's done. From Nelson Mandela. Oh, how good was that?

06:44
I know. How good is Nelson Mandela. I went to see his where he lived in what's it called, Robben

06:49
Island, South Africa.

06:52
Yeah, let me go back and so I don't sound like a complete imbecile. And what an inspirational guy, right? Nelson Mandela and I was lucky enough to go to Robben Island to see where he lived when he was in prison in South Africa. And yeah, wise words, I think, from Nelson Mandela, as many of Nelson Mandela's words are, it always seems impossible until it's done. And I think this really plays into the decluttering side of things, because when you feel hugely overwhelmed, it seems as if it's a completely impossible task. And so many people in our world, in grid are just thinking, it's just impossible, I just don't even know how I'm going to get it done, right? And then once it's done, it's like when you've got a task and it just seems like an impossible task, an overwhelming task, you know, all of those things. And then you do it, and it only takes you 10 minutes. You're like, Why did I waste so much time worrying about it? Because once it's done, you think it was entirely possible, right?

07:54
Yeah. And I think, as well as you that I think if we are in our heads about things, it always some for some reason, is worse than when we actually start doing a little bit, or start making a list, or start to do five or 10 minutes on something. Because I think if we worry, it just builds and builds and builds up in our heads, and it becomes also an impossible task. And I think what we see a lot is that sometimes clients or members say, am I the worst you've ever seen, or is my house the worst, or I have the most stuff of everybody? Because I think we just think that it's so impossible. But when you then help clients or members to break it down and go do this, do that, then look at this, and you kind of help them go through it. They're like, Oh, okay, I'm starting to understand this. I'm starting to get the hang of it. And until that kind of almost like that point of, yeah, it's like a halfway point, almost once it's suddenly, then you got the momentum and you got the positivity going. But until then it all, you know, it seems impossible until you start doing things. It's fantastic. Quote, yeah, yes, yeah.

09:11
Really, really motivational, yeah. So now we come on to our lovely Marie Kondo, your little Bessie Mae ing accounts, yeah. Marie Kondo are, like, you know, friends, aren't they? Did you, I bet you overwhelmed her. Did you overwhelm her when you met?

09:28
I was actually, I

09:29
bet you were all like, nice and yes, when, yeah, oh, like, you weren't like, bulldozing into it like you are with normal people, like pretending to be Japanese and stuff, weren't you? And like, yeah, you know, I

09:47
think she just exudes calm. So I think maybe that kind of always has been a long day, and it was the end of the day, and I was, like, knackered, and I was just calming my own way.

09:56
I don't know exactly, doesn't know England met her. Just a few weeks ago, right at the clean and tiny home show, yeah, and she signed a book for you. So when you've met her before, as well, a few years ago as well, when she was in London years ago, so you are, in fact, best married.

10:12
I don't think Marie Kondo even knows who I am, Leslie, but I feel I can know her, because that's the thing. When you see people on television and on socials, and you kind of start to think, oh, you know, you know them. But anyway, we love the quote that she did, which says, the space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past. Well, we love that, and we talk about that all the time, right? It's so important that your house and your home works for you, for the current you, and for the person that you kind of want to develop into. It should not be something that holds you to the past. And that doesn't mean that you cannot have anything old in your house, or you can't have anything that reminds you of the past, but it should have space so you can live the life you currently have. And I think that's really important. I think

11:11
it's getting the balance right, really, isn't it? English? So if we've got like, the current you, the past you and the future you, there needs to be a balance struck. I mean, in that quote from Marie Kondo, she's talking very much about the person we are becoming now. So almost like a sort of evolutionary state where you are Kind of developing into something and I think you know by going through a decluttering process as well, you are in that developmental stage where you are reevaluating. Your mindset is changing, so you're developing potentially into something different as well. So I like that idea of being in this kind of transition into some something new. But I think it's so important. A lot of times we we get stuck in the past, or we keep things from the past, and it stops us from keeping what we want in the present, you know. So we have not got space for what we need right now because we are keeping stuff from the past, or we are keeping stuff for the future. You know, the kind of what if scenario I might need that one day scenario. So get the balance right. I mean, I couldn't try and put a percentage on it, but if we were being very simplistic, it would be 80% of the stuff that you have in your home should be used right here, right now, 10% from the past and 10% from the future. That would strike me as an appropriate balance, give or take a few percentage points, you know, I mean, but, yeah, I think it's really, really important. Because, you know, when we've spoken about that, it is a bit of a light bulb moment, quite often that goes on for people writing good that people are, do you know what? I am very much stuck in the past, and I am, you know, keeping that sofa for my son or daughter who's going to move out, or I am keeping a ridiculous amount of stuff, like, what if I might need it one day? And so I think it's really important to recognize that, and the first sort of steps in development really come from self awareness, don't they, definitely,

12:50
and I think it ties in perfectly this whole conversation with number five from Joshua Becker, who says the first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don't and I think it really fits together, doesn't it? It really shows you here that the person you want to be is very linked to the stuff that's in your house. It's it's linked this. This is not like you only work on the personal or you only work on the stuff. When you start on the decluttering journey, you think it's about the stuff. Everybody thinks that decluttering is about the stuff. But what we actually know from experience is that you get these habit changes, these mindset changes, everything starts to almost fall into place. You start to look at how do I spend my time? Where do I spend my energy on? It's stick. Cluttering is so much more than just the stuff, and that's what we see every day in our membership. And why are so many of our members absolutely just, really, just fly within the membership, because it really makes a difference to their day to day living, and they start to think about all these things that they've never thought about before. And

14:08
I think the key words in that quote Ingrid is crafting the life you want. That's it, because you feel so consumed by the stuff that you've got that some of that has to go to allow you that space to evolve into something different. And so, you know, the combination of Marie Kondo and Joshua Becker quotes, there are very, very powerful right to take you forward and to just to start you on that path of thinking about doing things a little bit differently and becoming a different person with less stuff holding you back. Yeah. So those are key players in the kind of motivational world, you know, we have William Morris, AA Milne, or Milner, if you want, Nelson Mandela, Marie, condo and Josh Rebecca all big in their own way. And so after the break, I think we want to talk about things that we say, are they quite as inspirational? Probably not. But. Think they are just as important, right? Ingrid, exactly.

15:02
So see you after the break.

15:04
Hi everyone. We're

15:05
back after our little break, and we want to continue with some of the declutter up mantras that we say all the time. And actually, there's quite a lot of things that we kind of come back time and time again, right, that we love and that we use and that we use as examples all the time. So Leslie, number one, I think, is one of the things that you always say. I mean, I say now too, but you were the one who came up with it, so I'm definitely not the one

15:32
that came up with it. Oh, it's definitely somebody else's quote. I don't know who it is, so it's just somebody else's quote that we don't know who said it, right? And so, so we've just adopted it as our own. I hope there's no copyright on it, but I think it's, you know, like all motivational quotes, really, there's all different versions of things, and it is, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. And this plays into thinking about things differently. So if you've been around our world for any length of time, you will know that we are very much about emotions, not stuff, and so we're about that emotional connection to clutter. And I think that, you know, as Ingrid's already spoken about, when people think of decluttering, we automatically think of stuff. And actually what we're saying is, you know, forget about the stuff, forget about the bin bags. Forget about the charity shop. Forget about the donation for now park that think about your why? What is it about your emotional connection to this thing that is holding you back from making a rational decision on it? And then, once you've understood the emotional connection to stuff, it makes it much easier to then look at subsequent stuff and think, ah, that's the reason why I'm finding that difficult. That's the barrier that's standing in my way. That's the thing that's causing me to procrastinate over it. It's only when you flip it on its head and take yourself out of this doing phase of like, declutter, declutter, declutter, get rid of stuff. Get rid of stuff. Get rid of stuff. That all of a sudden you give yourself an opportunity to, as Joshua Becca said, start to craft the life you want, because you're looking at that emotional connection to stuff and so really, really important to just you know, certainly, if you come into our world, if you work with us, don't just come in and do the same as you've always done for the last 30 years. Because clearly the reason why you're in our world is because what you did for the last 30 years hasn't worked for you, and so you've still got a problem with clutter. So we need to flip it on its head and think about doing things in a slightly different way, right? So we love this quote. We stand by it. We use it all of the time, but just remember it. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get you what you've always got

17:41
exactly, exactly. Well, Leslie, we now know what your favorite one is. Things that I say all the time, don't put it down. Put it away. I mean, it sounds so simple, I know. But once you start to do it with all these little things, it will make a massive difference day to day in your home. Don't just drop your coat on the floor, fling your back somewhere, throw your shoes in a corner, place them where they belong, and that will help you eat so much in your daily resets, but also in your weekly resets, if you've used something, whether it's, you know, I don't know, old school, you've watched the DVD on your DVD player because the kids wanted to see a certain movie, get the CD, put it back in the DVD cover, and put the DVD back in the cupboard where it belongs. Don't leave it out. And I think once you start to recognize those little, little bits and actually start to go, actually, it's going to take just as much time to do this now and not leave it till later when there's a mountain of stuff, because then it's much more work. And if you incorporate this, this mantra, oh my gosh, you will not look back. Absolutely

19:01
love that. It's very angry, isn't it? It's very angry. Practical. Don't put it away. Yeah, very true with Johnson, yeah, yeah, finished.

19:16
It's like, it's like, it's finishing the job, right? You know when, when you've done some grocery shopping, don't just fling the bag somewhere, put the back in the cupboard where the bags belong. And you don't have to do it perfectly, but as long as it's in the right cupboard, that saves you from going back to things later, and you will start to really get back so much time, unknowingly, you you know tidying up after the fact is so much more work than doing it in the moment. Trust me on that one years of experience

19:50
and exactly so let's go on to number eight Ingrid. Yes,

19:54
progress, not perfection. Oh. Ah. We say that all the time, so important. We see it all the time, though. Leslie, if I can't do it perfectly, I'm not going to do it at all. So people get stuck. They get stuck in that perfectionist mode because I don't have the perfect amount of time and the perfect baskets in, the perfect place to put things in, the perfect and then they freeze. They freeze up. Everything gets frozen, and then nothing happens. And then they get overwhelmed. And you're in a vicious circle, then completely vicious cycles. So really important, just chip away at it, chip away at it, and then you will have that turning point and realize actually it's not about perfection. It's about being able to find stuff easier, being able to make it easier for yourself, for other people, to find things really important. I

20:52
think it's really interesting, isn't it? Because there's a concept. When we introduced the idea of perfectionism to people who are overwhelmed with lots of clutter in their home, they're like, I'm far from perfect, but it's that perfectionism, and it goes hand in hand, so perfectionism and procrastination go hand in hand, and that's why we can't make the progress. And so that's where it is. All about progress, not perfection, but people really struggle to understand that that is perfectionism doing its best work at that stage right? It's like, really, really holding us back, because it's that perfectionism we're waiting for the the, you know, the the weekends that we've got to do the whole stuff, or the perfect weather, or wait until all the kids are out of the house, or whatever that might be, when really what we should be doing is we go, you know, I've got five minutes. Let me just sort out this little drawer while the kettle's boiling or whatever. You know what I mean. And all of these things are giving us these little incremental wins that are all building up slowly but surely to progress, rather than waiting and doing the whole thing at once. And so it's really, really important. So we really, really do stand by, stand behind progress and not perfection. Yeah,

21:57
I had a good example. I had one of my clients on the phone, and she said, Oh my gosh. She said, it's what I would I would always look at when I had the time to do everything. And she said, recently, I just was grabbing some underwear to put on, and something the elastic had gone. And she said, I decided there and then I have enough underwear. This is not functional for what I want. It's been washed. It's been done. It's been worn. It's worn out. It needs to go. And she said, I immediately took it out and put it in the bean or the donation station, or whatever it was, where she put it. And she said, because I've been been talking to her and trying to have this mindset changing with her, she said, it's the first time I really clocked for me. Like, wow, I don't have to wait until I can do the whole drawer. I can just do a few bits. And it makes me move forward. As you said, it's an incredible light bulb moment, and completely away in the way, in the changing the way I think about it. And I was so so so so proud of her,

22:58
exactly. Oh, so good. So I think we want to go on now to the thing that sort of underpins our kind of methodology, really, Ingrid. And the first one we want to talk about, and we've talked about this a little bit already, is emotions, first, stuff, second. And so it's so important to flip things on its head and to go, as I've said before, ignore all of the stuff for now. I mean, obviously it's all related to stuff. We know that, but it's really about emotions, emotions, first stuff, second. Really, really important. So everything that we teach at the declutter hub is related to emotions, first stuff, second. So, and it's really a really easy thing to remember, because you can get bogged down in the stuff, right? And think, oh, do I need this jumper? What is it and then, but really, it's more, it's not, do I need this red jumper? It's, what is it about this red jumper that means that I'm keeping that when I've got another 10 red jumpers? And actually, I don't really, I feel like it might be gaping a little bit at the front, but I'm not quite sure there's something about it that's stopping me from putting it on. And it's working that out, you know. And these are emotional responses to things, you know. So it's not just about a psychological, psychological thing all the time. It's about an emotional response to something. What is it that's that little barrier that's stopping me from picking that out of my cupboard and picking other red jumpers in front of it really, really important to think about that. And once it starts to unravel, then you really start to make that progress, don't you Ingri because all of a sudden you can make that decision much more easily. You know, one of the big things is that people get paralyzed in their decision making, because it's so difficult, don't they? And so once you start to unravel it, once you start to unpick your emotions, then it's just that a little bit simpler.

24:40
Yeah. So true. Leslie, so yes, emotions, first off, second was our ninth decluttering quote or mantra that we wanted to share with you. And the last one, because this is a 10th kind of things podcast. After all, is our thought by thought room. Room by room, day by day, Mantra, which we use all the time here at the declutter hub, that is what our whole reset your home system that we use here is based upon. And we even have a challenge called the reset your home system, which is based on thought by thought, room by room, day by day, right? Absolutely.

25:23
Yeah. So thought by thought, room by room, day by day. Won't go over it again. We've talked about emotions first or second. That is the thought by thought is the emotional side of things. Room by room is the more practical side of decluttering. And then day by day, of course, is the maintenance side of decluttering and organizing our home. They kind of don't put it down, put it away, sort of scenario. So all of those things work in tandem. They work in a sort of circular, cyclical process to make sure that you are constantly evolving and constantly making progress, as Ingrid says, we are at the end of 2024, we all know what the New Year often brings, don't we? With it. Ingrid, the New Year often brings new ideas, new challenges, new goals, new year's resolutions, and the New Year reset your Home Challenge, which we have run many, many times in the past. People absolutely love it, and give themselves that that sort of spurt of energy to take them into 2025 and to really clear the decks, and we would love to tell you a little bit about the reset your home challenge and how that's going to fit together and how it's going to help you in 2025

26:29
Yes, because we'd love for you to join us. We're starting on Monday the sixth of January with our five day reset your home challenge. And every day we're going to talk about an emotion behind clutter, and we're going to talk about a different room in the home, and we're going to do that for three days, then we're going to have a session all about the maintenance. How do you keep the clutter at bay, and how do you maintain those decluttered rooms? And we're also going to do a live Q and A session where you can ask us your decluttering and organizing questions. Now we've already had 1000s of people do our challenge. We absolutely love it. We are buzzing about it. We want you to be there, and we would hope that you will sign up for our challenge. So go to declutter help.com. Forward, slash, R, Y H for reset your home, r y h, and you can find all the details there. It's completely free. It's all recorded. It will be available on replay. We'll give you bonuses. We'll give you checklists, I mean, everything that you need to start 2025 afresh and to start thinking about, Okay, right? England. And let's see you are saying to me, it's not about the stuff, it's about the emotions. I want to learn more about that, because I know I get stuck in the stuff the whole time, and I can't figure out why that is. Well, we can share a lot of our wisdom with you. So yes, sign up for the challenge on declutter hub, com, forward, slash, R, Y, H, and we can't wait to see you there. Actually,

28:12
Ingrid, new for 2025 you have a different room, so we have to set your home challenge before, but in 2025 we've introduced to complete the new room that we've never discussed in the reset your home challenge before, which is the living room. So we will be covering the kitchen, the living room and the bedroom, right? Yes,

28:30
yes. Which is exciting because which we love. So yeah, we can't wait. I mean, wow, 2024 was quite the year. We've got so much good stuff coming for 2025 I mean, just on the socials, you probably have seen lots of stuff going on. And, yeah, we can't wait to to kick start 2025 so I think that's it, right? Leslie, apart from wishing our listeners, oh, you remembered

29:02
yes to wish our listeners a happy new year. Yeah,

29:07
yeah. So thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for listening in of course, if you're here and you're here by maybe for the first time, by chance, don't forget to hit that like or follow or subscribe button, because we have a new episode every Friday, 326 episodes and counting, completely for free, either on your podcast player, Apple podcast Spotify, wherever you're listening now our YouTube channel, if you want to see us as well. And yeah, we love hanging out with you. We appreciate you so much. So from both of us, a very Happy New Year, stay safe, and we can't wait to see you in 2025
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