A graphic saying 'Happy New Year - Welcome to an organised 2022'
Episode 171 – Hit the ground running in 2022

Episode 261 – The power of slow in a fast world with guest Carl Honoré
Episode 260 – How to get things done with a list
New Year means one thing! New Year's Resolutions and this podcast will point you in the right direction to declutter and organise your home thoroughly in 2022.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
[00:00:00] Ingrid: New Year means one thing, New Year's resolutions. And today is all about encouraging you to put decluttering and organising your home at the top of your list.

[00:00:12] 

[00:00:12] A very happy new year to you two first. I mean that we need to get that out of the way. It's the 7th of January. We can still say it. And I'm like, I've got lots of other things to say, but let's do the happy new year first. 

[00:00:26] Lesley: Yes. Happy New Year for me too.

[00:00:28] It's 2022. It's quite a mouthful, isn't it? 2022. I always wonder how long we have to say Happy New Year for. Do you know what I mean? Like when, when do you stop? I think it's like a couple of weeks, maybe. 

[00:00:40] Ingrid: What do you think? I know there's no really rule for the, for it. Is there, when do you stop? 

[00:00:45] Lesley: We like rules, don't we?

[00:00:47] When's the actual cutoff when you can stop saying happy new year to people? That's me with my miserableness and you would, you'd be carrying on saying it right into March. 

[00:00:58] Ingrid: I would probably still on like the 20th of January. I'm like, happy new year. People are like Yeah, we're way past this now, we're way past, and I'm like, I agree with you.

[00:01:08] I do like rules and lists and things like that. So I find it's fine confusing. When do you stop with the whole happy new year? Hmm. Interesting. Well, 

[00:01:19] Lesley: there is no rule. That's the point. There is no rule. So you can do whatever you like and I'll do what I like. But I think we can definitely do the 7th of January.

[00:01:25] Yeah. But anyway, we are here to talk about 2022 and New Year's resolutions. Now, you know, New Year's resolutions have a, they have a reputation for failure. failing. So maybe we won't call them resolutions, but we're here to make sure that decluttering and organising your home is at the top of your list, because we know that if you get started in earnest in January, then that sets you up for the year.

[00:01:50] We also know this is a time of year when people are most excited, most motivated, and really want to make that change. What better day than today to start that journey? We're going to be all motivational today, aren't we Ingrid? I'm feeling the motivation. 

[00:02:09] Ingrid: Yes. And you know what? I think the new year just brings kind of like, okay, what's past is past.

[00:02:16] The last year, there's nothing we could change about it, but we can change where we're going. We can change our destiny. We ourselves. Can make these little steps forward to the where we want to go. And there's no, there's no point in looking back at last year and go, well, I didn't do that. And I didn't achieve that.

[00:02:36] What's the point? It's gone. It's done and dusted, but let's put a stake in the ground and go, okay, we are where we are now. There's nothing that about it. We can change. Think about where we want to go and how are we going to get there? Yeah, I 

[00:02:53] Lesley: think we do need to evaluate perhaps the mistakes or inaction that we took.

[00:03:00] Because we need to look at what we did wrong. Not quite as we would have done, not necessarily wrong, but not quite as effectively as we wanted to, let's say that. So what could we do that's different to make that happen this year? Because we know only too well, we're right in the middle at the moment of our Reset Your Home challenge.

[00:03:17] And we know that there will be people who did our Reset Your Home challenge back in January, 2021, and have made little progress in that time and are back in 2022 with us. And so it's really important to look at that and say, are you that person who, Set out, did the five day challenge in January and actually then tailed off.

[00:03:35] So what needs to be different? So we're going to give you some hints and tips, aren't we? As to some of the things that you need to focus on to make sure that decluttering and organising your home actually happens. We're all about action, not inaction. I'm feeling super hyped for 2022. 

[00:03:53] Ingrid: Yeah. You know what, Lesley, I think I know, you know, January is a time that we kind of have to recuperate a little bit from the busy holiday season.

[00:04:04] It's dark. It's probably raining in most parts of the world. I mean, probably not when you're in the lovely parts of kind of Australia and New Zealand because you're in the middle of summer, but for most of us, it's a bit dreary. It's a bit dark. It's a bit cold. cold. So we need a bit time to rest up a bit, but we also, I think, can use this time to kind of go, okay, what are my priorities?

[00:04:27] What do I want to achieve this year? And is a new year always, it's a bit same as happens after the summer holidays, when people kind of like, okay, kind of same happens in September, but January always feels like a new start. 

[00:04:41] Lesley: I think when you do when you have any kind of resolution, you have to do something different, don't you?

[00:04:46] Because you can't just do the same thing as you've always done and hope for the best. That's not the way that it works. You actually have to put plans in place to make sure that it happens. You need to Understand what you need to do to put those goals and put those dreams, actually, in place. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.

[00:05:07] I love that saying, don't I, Ingrid? I say it many, many times, but I think it's so true. You can't just do the same thing and hope for the best. Do you know what I mean? We've all been there. Not just decluttering and organising, healthy eating, all the biggies, all the big new year resolution ones, you know, weight loss, healthy eating, you know, deciding to look after yourself more, all of those things.

[00:05:28] Sometimes we fall foul because we don't really have a good plan. 

[00:05:31] Ingrid: A lot of people think that if you want to achieve something, it's about making these gigantic leaps, but we know it starts with the small stuff, doesn't it? It's the tiny little things. It's the same when you think, okay, I want to maybe lose a bit of weight over the next while.

[00:05:53] You can't just say, I want to lose three stone. Yeah. It's never going to happen. You need to think of that. Okay. How am I going to do that? One ounce or one pound at a time. You need to break it down. It's the same with decluttering. You can't do all these big rooms and have all these gigantic plans because then it feels like this massive Mount Everest that you're trying to reach the top and you're never going to get there.

[00:06:18] You need to go, okay. What can I do today? And you know what? It just reminds me about something that one of our members said. And she said, um, she was sharing this with us in the forum and she said I do, she cleans her candlesticks every Friday and then the next week she's really happy that she did it and she's thanking her past self for doing that.

[00:06:43] And I just love that. It's a tiny one minute job. That gives her incredible happiness because it was something that she did the week before. And now she knows her future self is going to be happy that she did something really small. And I love that. And I thought, what an incredible light bulb, what an incredible insight to go.

[00:07:04] I'm just going to do the one thing, one thing, because it really adds up one or two things, one or two or three things every day. One or two or three items that you've decided you no longer want really adds up. 

[00:07:17] Lesley: It does. And of course, you know, that, that example that was part of a daily reset, isn't it? And so if you can keep on top of things during a daily reset and that's something for her on a Friday night, that is part of that Friday reset that she needs to set herself up for the following week.

[00:07:32] And it's absolutely fantastic. Yeah, it was really insightful. It's interesting when we see things in our forum and you can see when Ingrid and I get started. super excited because it's something that, you know, cause we've, we know quite a lot about decluttering and so many of these light bulbs we know, but sometimes it's so fantastic when we get new insight from our members and we're like, yes, that's amazing.

[00:07:51] And so thanking your past self, I loved that. And you loved it as well. We've not even spoken about it, but I know exactly the one that you were talking about. Yeah. So I was actually, I need to jump back actually Ingrid, because when you were talking so eloquently about your past self and so I couldn't jump in with something, but I did want to say that my weight loss journey is definitely more about losing ounces than pounds.

[00:08:20] Ingrid: If we could 

[00:08:20] Lesley: just go one ounce at a time, how many pounds, how many ounces out of a pound is it like? 14 or something. I don't 

[00:08:28] know. 

[00:08:28] Ingrid: Lesley, I do metric. I do metric system. I've got no idea. But your pound is not my pound. I mean, your pound is like 450 grams. And my pound is 500 grams. I've been continually confused in the last 12 years that I've lived here in the UK about how much an ounce, a mile, a feet, a foot of...

[00:08:48] Lesley: I don't think a pound is 500 grams though. 

[00:08:52] Ingrid: No, not in your, not in your life. 

[00:08:55] Lesley: Not in your kilo.

[00:09:01] Yeah. Anyway, we will beg to differ. I mean, everyone will obviously, um, say that I'm wrong. But, but anyway, but yes. When you said that you want to lose an ounce, well, you said that break it down to ounces. I feel that's something that I could do. I feel like I could do ounces. So maybe that's my goal for this year.

[00:09:19] Don't worry about the pounds, Lesley. Just worry about the ounces. You know, 14 weeks to go one pound. Achievable, I think, achievable. Anyway, that's just a little, a little aside. And if you're listening, do let us know how many grams there are. In a pound in Holland, because Ingrid seems to think it's 500, but I'm sure it's 450.

[00:09:41] But anyway, we will, we'll let you off. Might be just one of those quirky Dutch things, once again, that I don't know anything about. So let's go back to talking about decluttering. We need to think about the basics here, don't we? Because what we see all the time, you know, you were talking then about, you can't go hell for leather on this and expect it all to be done really quickly.

[00:10:01] You need to break it down and you need to look at what you need to do. And you need to think of this as a marathon, not a sprint, you know, really important. Of course, there are many, many people who love to sprint, but ask yourself, are you doing it effectively, efficiently? And are you allowing yourself to change your mindset, which is what we certainly hear at the declutter hub.

[00:10:20] We don't just want you to have less stuff in your house. We want you to understand why the stuff is coming in the first place and to put plans in place to make sure that you don't bring unnecessary things in. It all starts with the decluttering process, but you have to do that decluttering process thoroughly.

[00:10:36] And really think about the emotions and habits that are making you gather stuff in the first place because otherwise you'll get the stuff out and it'll all look amazing, but then you'll carry on shopping and carry on bringing surplus stuff in. And so it's really important throughout the decluttering process to go through it systematically and thoroughly so that you can change your mindset and that's important.

[00:10:58] The magic, isn't it Ingrid, really? That's the magic, is the mindset changes the magic rather than the stuff. The stuff is a by product in our opinion. A very important by product, to be fair, but a by product of the decluttering process. The stuff just happens when everything else has fit into place. 

[00:11:17] Ingrid: You know what, Lesley?

[00:11:18] I think... Actually, the fact that we're not only about the stuff is why I like our membership and our group and our podcast so much. I mean, that sounds a bit crazy to say, but if it would only be about the stuff. It would be not interesting because we know it's not about the stuff. It's about everything else connected to the stuff and you can't tackle your stuff if you don't understand that.

[00:11:45] And I think that's as well what we see as well this week in the reset your home challenge is that those light bulbs are going off like, oh, yeah, it's not about that pair of socks or that trouser or the towel that I haven't used. It's all the things behind that. Why not? And how can I change that? And why is this in my house in the first place?

[00:12:06] And why do I feel so guilty about it? And all of those things. So I think that's one of the things what... Makes it so interesting and why so many of our members have such great success with our program because we teach them that it's not about the stuff. And what we do see is those mindset changes. We do see people going, gosh.

[00:12:27] I completely look differently at my house. I see actually more clutter than I had before. And I shop better. I, I present by completely different. I think about what It's important to me. I've realized that how I grew up has a massive impact on how I am now. And what's important to me. And I'm suddenly starting to think about the environment and I want to be able to donate more.

[00:12:58] And there's just a whole range of things that happens. It's never about the stuff, the stuff with, like you said, is super important. But what happens afterwards is so interesting. Once people go through our roadmap and start to peel away that clutter. Yeah, 

[00:13:18] Lesley: no, you're right. And the way we can sort of frame this a little bit, you know, you talk there about a pair of trousers.

[00:13:23] And so. Let's just take an example. You take a pair of trousers out of your wardrobe, off the floor, off the chair, out of the laundry, wherever it is sitting at the moment. You look at that pair of trousers and immediately your mind will make decisions into subconsciously or consciously will think, Oh, it's a while since I wore that.

[00:13:40] Or, Oh, that's that one that is itchy. Or, oh, I need to take that to the men to be MedEd, or, oh, I have no idea whether or not I can even fit in that. Or, oh, I remember wearing that when I was back in my corporate job 20 years ago. Or, oh, I don't really like gray anymore. Is that really going to be flattering?

[00:13:58] All of those things. So that's what we're talking about. So it's a pair of trousers, but all of those little mini emotions are going to run through your mind before you can make a decision on whether it's going to serve you in your current life. So to focus on. Numbers of stuff, get rid of one item a day, two items a day, three items a day, ten items a day.

[00:14:18] It's not about that, it's about understanding those emotions and understanding where your sticking points are. So understand which of those emotions that I mentioned is the one that you find the most difficult. It could be guilt, it could be... You know, I'm, I spent a lot of money on it, and so I feel really bad getting rid of it.

[00:14:33] It could be emotions about weight. Of course, you know, the kind of classic, I can't fit in it. I think I will fit in it, it doesn't fit me quite right. Maybe I can pass it on to somebody. We've got the environmental stuff kicking in, and so you need to understand which one of those is your sticking point, or many of them for, for many of our members or people that we work with, it's a combination of all of the above, which is why people typically have a clotter problem, and so it's so, so important to.

[00:14:58] Peel those layers back, as Ingrid says, and understand the why, and then you can make the right decisions. And you can feel 100 percent in control of the decisions that you're making. You know exactly what you're doing and where you want to be and why you're doing them, and that's the important thing. And we can't say that enough, can we?

[00:15:16] It's all about the emotions and not about the item. The item is a by product. Once you've made a decision about the emotions that are holding you back, you can then make a conscious decision to either lose it from your life or to keep it in your wardrobe and enjoy it. And so, yeah, emotions not stuff.

[00:15:32] Number one most important thing when it comes to decluttering. If there's one thing that you take away from this podcast, please focus on the emotions and not the stuff. It's not a numbers game, okay? Second thing that we wanted to talk about Ingrid in terms of little mini mistakes that people make and what people could perhaps do differently in 2022 to make sure their decluttering projects are successful this year.

[00:15:55] Yeah, I think we really 

[00:15:56] Ingrid: wanted to talk a little bit about preparation. Um, what a lot of people do is they're like, right, it's a new year. I am hyped up to do this. I'm going to do my whole wardrobe, all my cupboards, all my clothes that I have. And they kind of start, there's no plan. There's not even bags yet there yet of where the stuff is going to go into that you no longer want.

[00:16:20] And you just kind of ruthlessly start pulling stuff out. And after two hours, you look around and you go, Oh, wow. And now was, so what you need to do is you need to prepare yourself. I mean, we've got a whole. Course about preparation in our membership because it is so important that doesn't mean Preparation takes forever, but there's a couple of things you need to put in place So you don't walk off what you're doing in the middle of your project.

[00:16:47] Oh, I need to get some bags Oh, I'm actually really thirsty. Now. Let me get a glass of water or oh, this is really dusty I need to get the Hoover and you keep walking out of the room that you're in Distracting yourself from the plan that you were doing Preparation is key. And 

[00:17:04] Lesley: it's so important, of course, to, again, just jumping back to those emotions again, to think emotionally how this project is going to look at the end of it.

[00:17:11] So what is that going to do for you? How is that going to make you feel? What's your plans emotionally? How do you want it to make you feel? How do you want your wardrobe, for example, to look and to make you feel when you're looking at it every day? So the plan that you make is not just about getting the right hoover and the right duster, that's also important, but it's also about thinking.

[00:17:30] What am I actually wanting to achieve here? And many people just say, I'm going to do my wardrobe. No plan. No thought about what that looks like. No thought about whether it's achievable, whether it's realistic, whether you can do it, whether you've done it before, where you struggled. So you really need to think about that plan.

[00:17:46] So preparing is absolutely critical. And sometimes as Ingrid says, This might be just 10 minutes. It doesn't need to be like, Oh, I've got to sit there for two hours making some elaborate plan. That's not what we're saying. But I think if you jump in without planning, then often you, you fail. So it's a kind of fail to plan, plan to fail scenario, isn't it Ingrid?

[00:18:05] Really, really important. And honestly, when people. Do prepare and look at that in our membership. They're like, why did I never do that before? I've always jumped in and I've always failed. And so it's so important to think about that. So definitely do some preparation before you get started. 

[00:18:22] Ingrid: Now, the next thing I wanted to talk to you about is don't wait for the perfect moment to do this.

[00:18:31] If I've got a day off when I've got the afternoon clear, when I've got a weekend that I can take a week that I can take off work, then I'm going to do all this of elusive decluttering. And then that week or that day gets filled up with. Some daily chores with running to the post office, um, doing a phone call here or there, doing some admin on your home admin.

[00:18:56] And the time is just proof it's gone because if we wait for the perfect time with decluttering, we'll never get started. Decluttering is not about perfection. It's about doing a little bit, feeling good about it. And doing something for a short time and then doing something else the next day or the day after.

[00:19:19] Because if you plan these elaborate goals, these elaborate projects, and you think, Okay, I actually want to do my whole kitchen in the one day. And I'm going to just have to wait until I've got a whole day cleared to do that. Something always comes up. Start with one drawer, start with one cupboard.

[00:19:36] Lesley: Absolutely crucial. I think it's really important as well. Ingrid to think about, you know, we're big advocates of decluttering is a process, not a project. And so I think again, a lot of people think about individual projects. And of course, the process is made up of lots of mini projects. Of course it is.

[00:19:54] But you really need to think about it as part of your ongoing life. And so the bottom line is, while things come into your house, things need to leave your house to make space for them. That's the basic I think you're right. Bye. Rule of thumb, isn't it? Now, as you might expect, Ingrid and I have not got a lot of clutter in our homes because this is something that we do for a living and we've been doing for a long time, so it's very much part of our everyday life.

[00:20:16] If I'm putting some washing away and I see something that I think, oh, I don't want to do that, then off it goes. I was trying some stuff on today, some new stuff, and I found some stuff that I no longer want. And it went to my donation station. Really important to incorporate that into your daily life, but sometimes it can take a while to get to that point.

[00:20:34] So there's a lot that comes before you get to where Ingrid and I are, which is incorporated in your daily life. If you've got a clutter problem. Now, there are many of you who probably are at our stage. You're like, you know, I'm not actually that cluttered, but I just want to have those routines in place to make sure that I definitely incorporate this into my daily life.

[00:20:52] That's important as well. Routines. So important aren't they Ingrid, to keeping on top of that clutter and keeping the clutter at bay? 

[00:20:59] Ingrid: Yes, and it's not only the daily routines of things that you need to do every day, but also the weekly and seasonal routines. Work with the seasons, work with the, the, the weather outside.

[00:21:11] Think about what needs to be done a little bit more in advance, so you can start to put those routines in place. And that starts to happen when you have less clutter in your 

[00:21:20] Lesley: house. You know, once again, our Reset Your Home system has been a game changer for a lot of people because part of the Reset Your Home system that we use here at the Decoder Hub is we go thought by thought.

[00:21:31] You might have gathered that we are all about the thoughts and the emotions and habits here. So that comes first, followed very much by room by room, which is where we do the Decoder Hub. Cluttering in all of the individual rooms in our house. And then we have a day by day section, which is what do you do every day to keep on top of that clutter, to keep the momentum going, to keep on decluttering as you need to do to keep your home tidy, to keep it ticking over, to make sure you don't get it overwhelmed.

[00:21:55] That all comes in the day by day section of the reset your home system. And I think we have. I don't know, 10 courses or something like that. All about daily resets, weekly resets, weekly cleaning, weekly life admin, uh, what all the kinds of stuff we've got. Uh, the weekly shopping. Yeah, exactly. Planning. Yeah, exactly.

[00:22:15] Cause there's so many things. The bottom line is our homes are a big deal and they take a lot of maintenance. So whilst it may seem overwhelming, but there's always material in our membership. Once we get it nailed, then our homes will work like clockwork and we'll need much less effort while we're feeling completely overwhelmed and we don't know whether we've got to declutter today or tidy today or organise today or do life admin today.

[00:22:39] What what do we do what do we focus on because our homes become overwhelming, and we need to make steps to make sure that they just, it's just part of our daily routines which is where Ingrid and I are which is where we want all you guys to get to as well. And it's completely achievable, 

[00:22:53] Ingrid: isn't it. Yes, Lesley, the routines courses are an integral part in our membership, and all the parts are important in a membership, and that's why we love it so much, and we see the massive steps that our members make forward, and the wins and the successes that they celebrate, and You know, we're so excited about our Reset Your Home challenge this week.

[00:23:13] We love helping people and we would love to help you as well. So if you're thinking, Oh my goodness, I missed this whole Reset Your Home challenge, but this really sounds good. What Ingrid and Lesley are saying, it really resonates with me. Come and check out our membership. It's a new year. It's time for you to decide.

[00:23:31] Is my home a priority in 2022 for me? And if it is, and if you think I struggle with a lot of clutter, come and check out our membership. We've got a special offer until next week. The membership is normally 399, but we have 50 off until next week, Friday midnight. So you pay 349 for a whole year of decluttering fun with Lesley and I, and we've got our roadmap, we've got our own internal forum that our members can chat with each other, and Lesley and I are in there.

[00:24:06] Every day too, and every two weeks we go live with a live Q& A session where we answer your questions. So we would love to 

[00:24:14] Lesley: see you there. Don't forget Ingrid, we've got our monthly option as well. So yes, we've got a special offer running as Ingrid says from down from 399 to 349. But we also have a monthly option if you prefer to pay monthly and you will get the exact same information.

[00:24:30] All the content is exactly the same whether you're a monthly or an annual member. If you're not sure about the membership and it feels like, Oh, it's, you know, it feels like a lot. I'm not sure quite how it works. Pop on a discovery call. One of us will chat to you for 15 minutes and we'll show you around in the membership and talk about what the best options are for you.

[00:24:46] Now Ingrid and I live, eat and breathe decluttering. And there's a reason for that because we see the fantastic journey that people go on, the mindset changes and how it makes them feel about their homes. I think it's important But one of the things that we see, we've got a lot of people in our communities, we've got a lot of people in our Facebook group.

[00:25:07] We have loads and loads of you listen to our podcast. But many of you still are struggling. Many of you went through the Reset Your Home Challenge in January last year, and you're still coming back from one still saying, yeah, didn't quite make it work in 2021. Let this year be the year. for you to get that decluttering sorted out.

[00:25:26] Come and join our membership. Look at what we have on offer because honestly, it will be some of the best money that you've ever spent. We love it. Our members love it and we have fantastic success. And so come and check it out and see whether our membership is for you in 2022. 

[00:25:42] Ingrid: So We hope you've enjoyed listening to this podcast.

[00:25:46] The first one of this year. And Lesley actually said to me, Ingrid, do you actually know this is the fifth year we're recording a podcast? We started at 2018. If you start counting up the years, I'm like, yes, we're not at 200 episodes yet, but that's going to happen this year. Can you believe it? So thank you to all who have been with us for many, many years already.

[00:26:10] And if you're a new listener, thank you so much for tuning in. We appreciate you being here with us. And if you've been listening for a while, we appreciate you so much. So thanks so much. Have a great start to 2022 and we'll see you next week.
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